The Cicatrices Beneath the Veil: Revamped
by Watermelonsmellinfellon
Summary: Naruko and Sasuke have a tentative friendship. He wants more, but Naruko is so oblivious to his feelings and blinded by her haunting past, she can't see it. Through an agonizingly slow process, Sasuke will manage to win the heart of the person he values most. Unfortunately, the road to love is fraught with danger and drama, but he wouldn't have it any other way. A/N:NON MASSACRE!
1. Scars of the Past

**A/N: First chapter of the redux of the fic! Fixed a lot of mistakes. A LOT OF MISTAKES!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **-ORIGINAL CHAPTER WAS 1,457 WORDS LONG.**

 **-NEW CHAPTER IS 2,220 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 **"Scars are not signs of weakness, they are signs of survival and endurance."-Rodney A. Winters.**

* * *

It had been a dark night, when the most unimaginable thing had happened to six year old Naruko Uzumaki. The small blonde was alone, like she always was, playing in the playground by herself because none of the other kids were allowed near her. She didn't know why the parents glared at her and called her mean names. She didn't remember doing anything to them. Yet they were always so mean to her. And it was only her that they were mean to. She wasn't stupid, she'd seen how the other children had been treated and compared to her, their were like kings and queens. Even the bratty little ones who stole from people got better treatment!

The only people who didn't call her mean names were the Hokage and the Ichiraku's. Teuchi and his twelve year old daughter Ayame where even nice enough to let her eat at their restaurant for free! Well, they told her it was free, but she knew that the Hokage was secretly paying for it. He always did things like that for her. Especially after she was kicked out of the orphanage and he gave her her own place. It was a large apartment building that was vacant especially for her. She had free reign of the property and it was actually in her name. She planned to change some things when she joined the ninja Academy and learned cool things.

The sky was getting darker as she sat on a swing, using the toe her boot to push herself back and forth slowly. She wished she had a friend. Naruko didn't even someone to confide in. The Hokage could possibly take on such a role for her, but she knew that he was busy running the village and shouldn't have to give up time in his life just to make her feel better. She needed someone with whom she could go to no matter what. Who wouldn't say those nasty words and glare at her whenever she walked by. But this someone had to be readily available whenever she needed them. Someone who loved her. Who wanted to be with her all the time.

Was that too much to ask for?

Naruko knew that the Hokage and the Ichiraku's cared about her, but she couldn't disrupt their lives all the time just because she was lonely. They had jobs to do and they didn't have the time of day to be worrying about her all the time. So she kept her sadness to herself, not wanting to be more of a burden to anyone. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't handle it. She was tough!

It was that night, when Naruko had left the park and returned home, that it had happened. Sometimes she'd think back on it and wonder what would possibly drive someone to commit such terrible acts with a child in mind. But the events of that night had shaped her being and she used it as a lesson to herself.

Naruko had been walking down the empty streets as the sky got darker, when a man blocked her path. He wasn't a shinobi, she could tell from the lack of grace in his step. Even Genin possessed an amount of grace due to training. This man was just a civilian. Normal clothing and shoes and not a weapon in sight.

She had tried to go around him but he just moved in her way, several times in fact. Naruko finally looked up at the stranger, remembering what the Hokage had said about talking to people she didn't know. She wanted to ask who he was and what he wanted with her, but she didn't. Something in her told her that something bad was about to happen. Her stomach seemed to drop, a coldness already beginning to fester deep within her being. She didn't like the feeling of helplessness that came with it.

The feeling grew stronger as the man stepped closer, too close into her personal space. Naruko was about to turn and run, when something hard hit her across the back of the skull and everything went black.

* * *

She awoke to the smell of kerosene, something that she had become too familiar with in her young life thanks to the absolute hatred she received from the villagers. It was heavy in the air and she coughed because it was much too close. The little blonde squinted as she looked around, trying to determine where she was this time. There were strangers everywhere, in a small dark room and she could tell that there was no way for her to run from them!

She was trapped.

The strange people laughed but she didn't see what was so funny. They always enjoyed things like this, cornering her and laughing at her pain. Shivers were rolling up and down her spine. She could tell the whatever they were planning to do to her, it was going to hurt. Worse than the glares, the name calling, and the occasional thrown rock or kunai. This was going to be an extreme amount of physical pain and she wanted to cry. Wanted to somehow knock herself unconscious so she wouldn't have to be present in mind.

The people closest to her were holding kunai and others held a long rope. She screamed when they lunged, but couldn't get away. Some of them were ninja and while she was good and dodging civilians, she was nothing against a ninja. Especially the ones with the milky eyes.

Her small body was forced to the ground as they tied her arms behind her back before rolling her over so she couldn't move. The men with the kunai stepped forward and Naruko screamed when searing pain filled her body as the weapons pierced the flesh of her thigh. Another kunai was driven into her other thigh.

Titters and shouts filled the room. Screams of 'monster' and 'demon' flooded her mind. She hadn't done anything to deserve this!

Two more ninja appeared and with admirable yet hateful precision, easily pinned her small body to the ground with two tantos. Naruko choked at the blades forced her against the floor, the pain in each shoulder was unbearable.

"This is for the Yondaime!" yelled one of civilians.

Naruko tried to ask for mercy, resorting to pleading when they only laughed. Someone's saliva landed on her face.

They called her a 'demon' and a 'monster' who didn't deserve to live. She was kicked twice in the ribs, feeling a severe burning sensation that she was certain meant that some ribs had broken. Someone punched her in the face, a throbbing following the action. If she had thought it was bad enough already, she was proven wrong when a familiar civilian who had always taken chances to throw rocks at her, had decided to lay a flaming torch on her stomach. The was an unholy amount of glee in the eyes of her tormentors. They reveled in her wails of pain, enjoying how they escalated as the skin turned black.

When everything seemed to have stopped, Naruko was able to get a hold of her voice, hoping that they were done. That this senseless violence and pain would just end finally.

It wasn't over. A man appeared, with a kunai in hand. It smelled awful and unlike anything she had ever encountered before. He gripped her chin and jabbed the weapon into her cheek. Three times on each side and he smiled when she shrieked.

 **Child! listen to me!** came a ringing, powerful voice.

Naruko briefly wondered where the voice was coming from, but was in too much pain to really care.

 **No! Listen to me! You will fall asleep. You will tune out the pain. You will come to me!**

Naruko's vision got darker, until she was no longer conscious. Gratitude to whatever Kami was out there that granted such a reprieve, filled her as she fell.

* * *

She awoke, feeling fine. Nothing was hurting. Well, nothing on her body was hurting, but she was sad and scared. Why did those people do those horrible things to her? What did she do to deserve that?

 **I can answer that Naruko.**

The little girl turned to the voice and gasped. There was a huge, red cage in front of her and inside, sat a big, orange fox. Looking closer, she could count nine tails. She stared at the creature for several minutes before it dawned on her.

"You're the Kyuubi!" she exclaimed, pointing a tiny finger.

The big head nodded, red eyes flashing, **We are inside your mind Naruko. I brought you here, so you can't feel any more pain.**

Naruto was confused, "Why are you in my mind? I thought the Yondaime killed you?"

The beast smiled, showing off its sharp teeth. **He didn't kill me. I am a Biju, a mass of chakra created from nature and the hatred of humans, I cannot ever be fully destroyed. Knowing this, your Yondaime sealed me inside you. The children around your age are just told that he killed me, so that they don't hate you. The Hokage even made a law so that anyone who talks about it will be put to death. That prevents parents from telling their children about me, but not from telling their children to avoid you. In the end, I think it was a pretty useless action, because it hasn't done you any good.**

Naruko's world crashed in that moment. The Kyuubi was sealed inside her? That was why they called her a demon and a monster! Because of the Kyuubi. They were being mean to her because they thought that she was the fox and even tortured her because of what the believed.

She began to cry. What had she done to deserve any of this? Why did they blame her when she didn't ask for it? She didn't seal the fox inside herself.

The Kyuubi sat in the cage and tried to comfort the girl. A child as young as she would undoubtedly need time to come to grips with everything happening. When she was finally coherent, they properly introduced themselves and talked. Kyuubi stating that she, yes she, was waiting until Naruko could awaken to the real world without any pain left from her recently acquired injuries. Until then, they would speak freely.

Naruko was also informed that for some reason, the scars in her face wouldn't heal, even though everything else did. This meant that Naruko would be scarred for the rest of her life. Nobody appreciated scars. They were ugly and made people scared to talk to those who were scarred. Naruko's future happiness was pretty much destroyed in that moment and she swore that she would devote herself to becoming the best shinobi ever! So she wouldn't need to worry herself with the things that other girls worried about. So that the opinions of others didn't matter in the least.

* * *

Naruko woke up in the hospital a little over two months after the incident. The Hokage was notified of her awakening and had rushed to her room immediately. He apologized over and over for not getting there soon enough. He explained that all those who were involved were immediately sentenced to death and told her that she had a quick recovery, except for the facial scars.

When Naruko had looked in the mirror, she grimaced at the hideous creature she saw looking back at her. The scars on her face were discolored and jagged. Two on either side of her mouth, giving her an upside down Glasgow grin. The other four were on her cheeks, and looked hideous! She glared at the horrible image she made. She was disgusting!

That very same day she had asked the Hokage to help her get a new wardrobe to which he agreed. From that day forth, she donned a black mask that hid her scars. That would keep her safe from the scrutiny of those who would judge her appearance alone. The dark material gave her a sense of security and for it she was grateful. From that day onward, she was a new Naruko, and refused to ever be pushed around by anyone ever again.

With Kyuubi's promise to train her as she went through her schooling, she would come out on top and be the very best. Her life, from that moment on, was dedicated to becoming the best shinobi to have ever lived. Nothing else mattered.

* * *

 **A/N: So, this is the first chapter.**

 **How was it? Let me know.**

 **Ja ne! :D**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**


	2. The Lessons Begin

**A/N: Second chapter!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **-NEW CHAPTER IS 2,048 WORDS LONG.**

 **-THE ORIGINAL STORY DIDN'T HAVE THIS CHAPTER.**

* * *

 _ **"Every winner has scars."-Herbert N. Casson.**_

* * *

Naruko's first amount of training came in the form of food. As she was now wearing a mask everywhere she went, she needed to learn how to eat without people seeing her face. As she was just ashamed of the scars she bore constantly, she needed to find a way to eat quick enough so people didn't see her face. That meant that she could not go to Ichiraku Ramen until she discovered something.

This training included fast movement of chopsticks. First, her arm had to be fast enough to be able to grab the food and put it in her mouth without being seen. Second, she had to be able to lower and lift her mask at a rate that nobody would be able to follow. Third, she needed to be able to move fast enough to where the food would disappear and nobody would notice.

Every meal of instant ramen that she had for the first month after being released from the hospital, had been treated as a training expedition. She needed to improve and she needed it quickly. She was going to be entering the Academy within the next year and a half and she wasn't about to deal with the nosy children she would know doubt be sharing space with. It was vital that she learned how to eat properly.

As a particularly smart child, Naruko knew that it wasn't healthy for children her age to miss food. Even if the food she was consuming on a daily basis wasn't exactly healthy for her, she knew that she couldn't just miss meals. So it wasn't like she was going to be missing lunch at the Academy.

With these thoughts in mind, she pushed herself towards her goal, intent on finding a way to ease the eating process.

* * *

Her second form of training, came as scavenging. She had never really had to do it before, but according to Kyuubi she now had to collect things. So she was told to visit the training grounds every evening and collect all of the weapons that she could find. Ninja were incredibly wasteful and tended to forget their weapons after they were done training. Their foolishness was her reward.

Kyuubi knew how to inspect the weapons to see which ones were okay to use and which ones weren't. When she asked how Kyuubi could even know something like that, she simply got a small explanation about how she was a chakra mass created long ago and had seen things over the years that would add to her knowledge of the world. Basically, the Fox knew everything. Or at least _almost_ everything.

And then began the lessons of how to sharpen her weapons properly.

* * *

Her third lesson started off as a hunt. The Fox was insistent that Naruko knew how to hunt for herself. Since she could not go out into the village to purchase things like other people could because she was taxed too much, she had to find her own prey.

Unfortunately, the Biju tended to consume their food raw, so she needed to learn how to cook various types of meat. This bled into her fourth lesson. She had to learn how to sneak.

Naruko was not allowed to enter the Library, meaning of she actually had to sneak inside and take the books that she needed. The first three times were a complete failure, but she finally learned that the old woman at the main desk was having vision problems and if she wanted to avoid all of those issues of getting caught, she had to do something about her hair. Naruko was the only person in the village that had bright blonde hair in that particular shade. All she had to do was dye it for the days she was going to the library. The woman would not notice her at all if she slipped in behind somebody else. Of course she also changed her hair style to just to make it more difficult for people.

After getting the books that she needed, Naruko was finally able to cook the food that she wanted. She learned how to prepare fish that she caught from the streams in the training grounds, and venison, which she also caught in the training grounds, so that she wasn't relying on fish all the time.

Once she knew how to prepare the meat properly, Kyuubi told her that she needed to plant herself a garden. Her fifth lesson had to do with thievery. She needed to learn how to steal things from people without them noticing.

So Naruko got to practice ditching her Anbu guards and then stealing things from various vendors in the village. Once she had acclimated a large assortment of the things she needed, she turned one of the various apartments in her building, into a conservatory. Basically what she did was she tore out parts of the ceiling to let the sunlight and rain come in and turned the entire room into a big garden.

The fruits of her labor began to grow not too long after and Naruko no longer had to worry about whether she was going to be eating healthy food or not.

When the Hokage found out about what she was doing, he turned a blind eye to it, pretending that he did not know that she had basically stolen a whole bunch of stuff in order to do what she wanted. But seeing as she had been put through unimaginable amounts of suffering at the hands of the villagers, he allowed it to continue because they deserved a little bit of suffering in return.

* * *

It was the year before she started the Academy that she finally started her sixth form of training. The Kyuubi wanted her to locate her chakra. Being able to pinpoint where her chakra was before entering the Academy, would give her an advantage over all the other students. Especially if any of the teachers did not like her and tried to sabotage her work.

She had already explored her mind in full. The reason that her mind look like a sewer, was because she apparently felt safer in places that other people would not dare to venture. Several times had she taken refuge in the dirty, smelly waters that resided beneath Konoha.

She wanted to make it better, but Kyuubi insisted that she needed a deeper knowledge of how to feel and see her mental palaces and understand how they worked before she could properly fix things. She was advised to not try to fix anything until she knew what she was doing.

However, she was able to find the door that pretty much let her to her chakra center. Since her chakra network was filled with at least three times the amount of chakra than a normal child would have, she had more work in learning to control it. At least it meant that she definitely had the makings to be a ninja, she just had to work hard to get there.

Her chakra was a light shade of lavender and was warm and comforting, and sometimes she liked to just enter the room and wrap herself in the warmth inside. It was basically the closest thing she was going to get to a hug. Kyuubi was much too large to be able to give her any kind of hug, so she had to make do with what she had.

After getting acquainted with her chakra network, she was able to manipulate it in little bursts from her fingertips. So long as she was able to locate it and use it, she had passed that training perfectly.

* * *

Her seventh form of training came in the form of lying.

As a ninja, she needed to be able to lie on the spot and make it believable. That meant that she had a lot of things to do. The Kyuubi had various little excuses that she can use in order to trick people into thinking that she was telling the truth. She was also taught various facial expressions in order to make her stories believable.

Of course as she was wearing a mask the only facial expressions she could really use were her eyes but eyes could go a long way. Actually, the mask did aid her. It hid most of her face so that she wouldn't have to worry about people seeing if she was grinning or not.

* * *

A few months before she began at the academy, she started her eighth lesson. Knowledge gathering. Knowing things before entering the Academy would be the best way to go.

So she began sneaking into the library in order to take books out all the time.

Reading books was boring. Naruko wanted to be able to fight and use weapons, but the Kyuubi wouldn't let her because her body was small and she needed to wait until she was a bit bigger before starting intense training. She didn't want to ruin her growth or something like that. She kind of lost interest when she learned that she wasn't going to be starting any physical training for a while.

And it wasn't like she was learning things that were fun. Who wanted to learn about the history of the village? It was boring and filled with a bunch of old guys who didn't seem to learn from their actions. She didn't care about who created the village, or how the village was created, as far as she was concerned the village was full of a bunch of assholes. That was all she needed to know and it was all she cared about.

At least reading about chakra and the various uses that it could have, was interesting. And briefly she had wondered if maybe she could be a Iryo-Nin. Kyuubi immediately shot that idea down when she informed the little blonde that her chakra was mixed with a bit of Kyuubi's chakra, making it impossible for her to heal people other than herself. Biju chakra was extremely deadly to people who weren't Jinchurikis.

A least there were other things she could possibly master in.

* * *

Kyuubi was a taskmaster, plain and simple. As she was the most powerful of the Biju, she had demands that Naruko must absolutely follow.

She refused to have a weak vessel. The Kyuubi was stuck with Naruko probably for the rest of the blonde's long life, but that did not mean that she was going to get away with being weak or being stupid. As the best of the Biju she had a reputation to uphold and if Naruko did not properly portray who she was, then she would suffer.

And not physical suffering of any kind. No, this would be mental suffering. Naruko would be forced to sit through lecture after lecture after lecture about the faults of humanity and how they could have avoided making stupid decisions had they used their brains.

Naruko had been through several of these lectures already and she really didn't want to have to deal with any more of them. Because even if she wasn't in her mindscape, Kyuubi could still talk to her no matter what she was doing and no matter where she was. So there would be a dull, ringing voice in her ear just lecturing on and on and on, and it was _torture_.

So no, Naruko was not about to come across as some kind of weak individual. Not when her mental sanity was on the line.

* * *

 **A/N: So this is the new chapter 2! It was not a part of the first version of this fic, but I felt you should all see Naruko's childhood a bit. See what Kyuubi made her go through.**

 **How was it? Let me know.**

 **Ja ne! :D**

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	3. A Friend

**A/N: Third chapter! This chapter has been edited! Fixed a lot of mistakes. A LOT OF MISTAKES!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **-NEW CHAPTER IS 1,350 WORDS LONG.**

 **-THIS CHAPTER WAS NOT A PART OF THE ORIGINAL FIC.**

* * *

 _ **Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.- Leonard Cohen.**_

* * *

 **Kit! There is a female of your kind coming up from behind you. Try to locate where!**

Naruko groaned hating it when Kyuubi demanded they play games like this.

 **Kit, this is not a game. Someone is coming up from behind you and I want you to sense where they are.**

 _Fine, I'm doing it._

Naruko closed her eyes and concentrated. Faintly, she could hear footsteps coming... from her left? Small steps too, meaning someone who was rather young was approaching. Her age or a little older? Her nose twitched, picking up the scent of weapon polish? The whistle of air against a projectile alerted her of the oncoming weapon and she dove forward, rolling under the threat and spinning on her elbow in order to twist herself to face her opponent,

 _I guess I don't have to tell you where they are,_ thought Naruko.

 **Che.**

Naruko's assailant was a young girl who was just a bit taller than Naruko herself, strengthening the belief that she was older. Her hair was a dark shade of brown and was pulled up into two buns on either side of her head. She had a small fringe that fell forward into her face but not enough to impair vision.

Adorning her body was a small, high collared, pink qipao dress that was trimmed in red. Her fasteners were also red but with gold tips. Covering her legs were a pair of leggings in a dark shade of red. She was flipping a kunai up and down and looking at Naruko with curious brown eyes.

"Sorry about that. I wanted to see if you'd react," she said. "I have a wire around it and would have pulled it back if you hadn't moved in time."

To demonstrate this, she yanked her free hand toward herself and Naruko watched at the kunai that had almost taken her head off, sailed right back into the girl's outstretched hand.

 **Impressive. She's knows her way around metallic weaponry.**

"So what are you doing out here? This is supposed to only be for the shinobi to train in."

Naruko was making use of a shinobi training ground, number Twenty-Seven. No one ever came to it because it was boring. No river flowing through it and barely any trees for cover. Mostly rocky expanse for about half a mile.

"I'm trying to channel my chakra so when I enter the Academy next month, I'll be ahead of most of my class."

"A newbie, huh?" the girl smiled, flipping the kunai again.

"Well, I'm Hakoda TenTen and I'm going into my second year at the Academy next month!"

 **Befriend her! She'll be good to get along with.**

 _Fine._

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko."

"If you ever want weapon help, just let me know. My family are the main weapon providers in Konoha. We get the best shipments in and then we make custom weapons for people. We also polish and service weaponry. And on the side, we give lessons on how to properly use them too."

* * *

It turned out that TenTen did not have any friends. Her family had strictly been weapon crafters for the past few decades. Her great grandfather was a Samurai from Tetsu no Kuni who frequently taught his family members the way of the sword. So many felt that they didn't need to become ninja. But TenTen had a dream.

She spoke of it while almost breathless. Her brown eyes would sparkle with life as she told Naruko her goals for her future.

"I want to be like Tsunade-sama."

Naruko had to think about it for a moment. The name was familiar, but she just couldn't think of why.

 **She's the medical ninja, progeny of Hashirama,** said Kyuubi.

That was it! She was a world-renowned Iryo-Nin! The best medic ever, according to some. She wasn't too tall, but held a presence about her that most felt had to be respected, therefore making her seem bigger than normal. She was blonde, with amber colored eyes. She was also well endowed. A running piece of information was that she was bad at gambling and that her nickname was The Legendary Sucker.

"Tsunade-sama is the best in her field and is the only medic allowed on the front lines of battle. She augments her natural, impressive strength with chakra to empower her Taijutsu. The application has never been fully explained so it's difficult to replicate, but I'd just love to discover it and utilize it as well!"

"So… you want to be an Iryo-Nin?" asked Naruko.

TenTen frowned. "I don't know. I want to be as good as Tsunade-sama and receive world-renowned prowess for my skills. I'd like to have super strength that can flatten buildings in a single punch. I'd like it for Kunoichi to receive a better reputation among the nations. I don't think I necessarily want to stay behind in a platoon in order to tend to people's injuries though."

Naruko nodded, understanding how the life of an Iryo-Nin was kind of boring unless given someone to heal. She didn't want to be the kind of person who had to sit back and wait until someone was hurt before being useful.

"What do you want to be?" TenTen asked, wiggling in her place.

"I… want to be the most powerful shinobi to ever grace the Elemental Nations."

TenTen whistled, eyebrows lifting into her fringe. "That's quite a goal for yourself. Do you think you'll do it?"

Naruko nodded slowly, "Of course I will. I have nothing else to do with myself."

"Well, maybe we can help each other out," suggested the bun haired girl.

And not once did she ask about the mask.

* * *

TenTen did not like the looks people sent Naruko's way. Naruko always avoided going somewhere where there was a lot of people. TenTen didn't know why, but she did not appreciate people glaring at her only friend. So if she just to happened to miss a toss on her kunai and it got lodge in someone's carton of milk or cut a sign in half, she had _nothing_ to do with it.

Also, she noticed the hooded figures that followed them.

Anbu.

She wondered why Anbu followed Naruko everywhere. Naruko said she didn't know but that the Hokage himself had stationed them her whole life for some reason.

The Naruko knew the Hokage personally.

What had TenTen gotten herself into?

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed, happy that Naruko seemed to have found a friend in a good child. Both young ladies were goal oriented and he was certain that they'd have a good rapport. They'd push each other to be their very best.

If only an eight your old didn't feel like she had to become the most powerful person int he world because she had no uses anywhere else.

He glanced at the photo of the Yondaime and sighed once more, feeling his age.

Where did he go wrong?

* * *

 **A/N: So, this is the first chapter. If anyone was wondering, the scars are reminiscent of the markings on Inuyasha's face when he's transformed. Just imagine three on each side and two coming from the mouth.**

 **How was it?**

 **Let me know.**

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 **IT'S MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY SO I'M UPDATING BECAUSE OF** **HER! _FLAMINGPEN18_ , I LOVE YOU!**


	4. Academy Life

**A/N: Fourth chapter! This chapter has been edited! Fixed a lot of mistakes. A LOT OF MISTAKES!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **-ORIGINAL CHAPTER WAS 3,577 WORDS LONG.**

 **-NEW CHAPTER IS 7,231 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 ** _I think scars are like battle wounds - beautiful, in a way. They show what you've been through and how strong you are for coming out of it. \- Demi Lovato_**

Naruko's first day at the Academy was an interesting one. The large building looming overhead was the starting point for all shinobi in the village. Everyone who became a ninja in Konoha, started there. Even if they only remained for a month, it still had an effect on their lives as shinobi.

The moment she had walked into her classroom, everyone had begun whispering about her and the mask she wore. Annoying little eight years olds. Some from clans, but most from civilian families. Clan children ignored her existence and civilians attempted to bully her, until she taught them a lesson or two.

"I think she's just trying to act cool," some snotty girl said to her friends.

"Maybe she's really taking the ninja thing seriously. But most ninja don't really wear masks," a mousy boy whispered.

It wasn't even the beginning of class yet! People were pointing and staring at her and she promptly ignored them. They were all wastes of air in her opinion. She'd seen some of them before and they had ignored or bullied her, so she was returning past actions and no one seemed to like it. They could deal with it because she had better things to do that socialize.

More students walked into the room. Naruko took in their appearances. A chubby kid who was holding a bag of chips, was talking to a spiky haired kid that kept yawning. There was a boy with brown hair and red facial markings that was crowding around a girl who was stuttering badly. Off to the the side of the room, stood a boy in a long jacket, wearing a pair of sunglasses. Naruko noticed how some of the kids were pointing at him and saying cruel things about 'freak' and 'bug boy'. The boy ignored them.

Naruko had to hand it to them, kids were probably some of the worst people in the world and she was embarrassed to be one.

A girl with short, platinum blond hair and blue eyes ran into the room, towing a pink haired girl with green eyes along with her. They ran up the the chubby boy who was eating chips and struck up a conversation for a bit.

The door opened again and in walked a dark haired boy, his hair standing up in the back, reminiscent of a duck's rear end. He turned to face the person behind him and smiled a small smile. The person, who looked a lot like him, patted his head and wished him a good day. From their clothing, Naruko would venture a guess and say Uchihas. No one else in the village would dare wear an Uchiwa on their clothing.

Naruko watched as the girls immediately looked at the boy. Every girl in the room was staring at him in a really weird way, practically salivating. Naruko felt a shiver of disgust run up her spine. They were fan-girls. The absolute worst kind of girls! _Bleck_!

The boy noticed the stares he was getting and began looking around the room frantically, his little eyes barely visible, they were moving so fast.

Naruko did the same, to see almost all the girls were patting their seats and smiling like idiots. Someone even shoved the person next to her, off their seat! What was wrong with them? He was just a boy. She didn't see what was so important about him that they were acting like fools, though the duck butt did make him stand out quite a bit. Briefly, she felt a sliver of pity for the unknown boy. What a great few years he was going to have surrounded by fan-girls.

The empty seat next to her moved and she looked to see the boy sitting next to her. Why?! She looked around to see the death glare of the fan-girls fixed on her. Wonderful. Now she was going to face confrontation either today or tomorrow. Not that she minded showing them their place but she'd hoped establishing her strength wouldn't have to be done over a boy of all things.

She decided to block them out and pulled out her MP3 player, which was a gift from the Hokage for her last birthday. A marvelous invention from a Konoha civilian that had begun selling out like crazy. Being able to listen to music when one is training, genius. Putting on the loudest music in her playlist, she sat back and waited for the teacher to arrive.

When he did, she had to hold back her laughter. He was pretty young, maybe seventeen or eighteen and looked a little embarrassed to be there. He tried to call the class to order, but no one heard him. He gave it another go and still they didn't hear him. Finally he couldn't take it and exploded on the students. He was so loud that Naruko could actually hear him over her music!

She sighed and put the MP3 away, intending to pull it out at lunch, where she would need it again for her solitude. The teacher introduced himself as Umino Iruka and stated that he liked ramen from Ichiraku's and that his goal in life was to be a great Academy teacher. He then took roll by calling their names in alphabetical order and asking them to say something about themselves so they could all learn something new.

"Akimichi, Choji!"

The chubby boy from earlier stood, "I like food!" The class laughed and he glared at them. "I also like to hang out with Shikamaru and I want to be the best clan head my clan has ever seen!"

Iruka nodded, "Very nice, Choji." He then listed some other names that didn't interest Naruko all that much. "Aburame, Shino!"

The coat boy stood, "I like insects." Most of the other girls blanched at the admission. "I want to create a hybrid specie of beetle that can live extremely long and can perform jutsu with just natural chakra and not my own," said the boy before he sat down.

Iruka smiled, "I hope you can do that one day, Shino."

The list moved on. Naruko was still staring at Shino, feeling a little bad for him. Everyone avoided because he liked bugs? Seriously? How petty can some people get? They probably didn't know the extent of his love for bugs, so it wasn't like they had a real reason to dislike him.

"Haruno, Sakura!"

The pink haired girl stood and twiddled her thumbs nervously. "I like flowers and Ino. I- I want to be a good kunoichi." She sat down quickly.

Iruka gave a small chuckle, "Good going, Sakura. Hyuga, Hinata!"

The stuttering girl stood, "I- I l-like pressing f-flowers and I w-wish to g-gain the c-confidence I n-need so that I c-can fight my f-father like an e-equal, and u-unite the Main and Side Branches w-when I b-become the clan head."

Naruko looked at the girl in a new light. She wanted to believe in herself and have her father view her as someone worthy. Since the girl was a Hyuga and the heir, she had a lot of expectations placed on her. Her goal was admirable. Wow, a Hyuga that was admirable, something new happened every day.

"Inuzuka, Kiba!"

"Yahoo!" the boy with red marks on his face, jumped up. "I love dogs!" At his shout, a small, white puppy popped out of his coat and barked. Some of the girls squealed at how cute it was. "As heir apparent, I want defeat my sister and her nin-dogs so I can become clan head and then make my clan larger and well known in the ninja world."

"Good for you, Kiba!" Iruka said, then called out some more names.

"Nara, Shikamaru!"

There was no reaction and Iruka repeated himself, looking toward the boy with the spiky, pineapple hair.

Choji poked the boy - as they were sitting together - several times. The spiky haired kid raised his head and proceeded to say in monotone, "I like cloud gazing and hanging out with Choji. I want to marry a normal girl and have two kids, one boy and one girl. I'll retire when my daughter marries a respectable guy and my son becomes a successful ninja. Then spend the rest of my days lying about, watching the clouds. I think talking is a drag."

Choji laughed bit as his friend fell asleep and apologized to Iruka who was gaping openly. But he couldn't be faulted because the whole class was a little shocked at how detailed the young Nara was concerning his future.

Iruka did give a wry smile and Naruko could guess why. The Nara family was known for being lazy and Shikamaru's wish to do nothing but cloud watch kind of showed it.

A couple names later a hesitant, "Uzumaki, Naruko!" was heard.

Naruko stood as a hush came over the room, "I like ramen from Ichiraku's. I plan to be the most powerful ninja to have ever graced the shinobi nations." She sat down and folded her arms, ignoring the looks she received from her speech.

Iruka seemed a little blown away with what she had said. His eyes were wide as he nodded absent-mindedly but he did look back to his list in order to call out, "Uchiha, Sasuke!"

A roar of girlish squeals rang through the room. Naruko flinched at the loudness. How annoying! But she was proud to note that she was right about the duck butt haired boy.

The boy that had sat next to her stood, "I like some things and I hate fan-girls. I long to defeat my elder brother in a spar."

With that, he sat down. Naruko smirked beneath her mask. He wasn't giving out much information to the fans and even said that he didn't like them. That didn't deter any of them of course as they cheered for the young Uchiha. But he was smart enough not to give himself away. An Uchiha through and through. Even if he had a duck's butt for a hairdo.

"Yamanaka, Ino!"

The blonde girl who had dragged Sakura into the room, stood with a large smile, "I love shopping and flowers. I plan to make our family's shop much larger as well as follow my father's footsteps and enter the Konoha Intelligence Division."

"An admirable goal, Ino!" Iruka placed his clipboard down. "Now that we know a little bit about each other, let's get on with the first lesson. Who can tell me what chakra is?"

Unsurprisingly, Naruko did know, because Kyuubi made her read… books… for forever.

No one had raised their hand though. Iruka looked around the room, his eyes stopped on Naruko. "Naruko, do you know what Chakra is?" he asked, looking worried.

Naruko sighed and began quoting what she had memorized. "Chakra is the moulding of life, physical, and spiritual energy. Once it is properly moulded, it can be focused through the Chakra Network by sheer will power or the forming of a hand sign to center the balance. There are five types of Chakra Natures. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Each has an element that they are superior to and an element that they are inferior to. Chakra can be many different colors depending on the level of control one may have or what they are using the Chakra for. Chakra must be used in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Iryo Ninjutsu, and Dojutsu. There are some Taijutsu techniques that require Chakra, but normally it isn't needed. The kinds of Chakra are, Miko, Yami, Star, Senjutsu, Gift of the Sages, and Bijuu Chakra, which each have a different method for usage. Everyone has a different Chakra Signature which makes them different from everyone else. No two people can possess the same Chakra Signature.

I can go on and on, but that would take forever."

Everyone sat in shock and awe. Sure some of them probably knew the basics, but nothing like that. Iruka was beside himself. He didn't know that she would know that much! No child should know that much already! "Yes, Naruko. You were spot on! Good job."

She smirked to herself. First day of school and she was already the smartest. Good. It was all the Kyuubi's doing.

 **Just think, five more years of this.**

 _Oh, Kami,_ groaned Naruko. _But, I'll be top kunoichi all the way through._

* * *

After lunch, they were taken outside and given a few tests. Just to see where they were, or so claimed the Chunin. The obstacle course was pretty large and each student was timed. Then they had to test their aim and accuracy with target practice. Finally, they each had to fight Iruka and determine where they needed to do better.

Most of the girls complained about everything, which got on Naruko's nerves! Why did they have to whine about everything? She had no problem with any of it, and Ino and Hinata weren't complaining, so why were they? TenTen didn't act like that.

 **They're more worried about their looks.**

 _What looks? They're seven and eight!_

Kyuubi didn't answer and she just shrugged.

When it was her turn, Naruko managed to get through the obstacle course with little to no problem. Her arm was scratched on a kunai but it wasn't bad or anything. The girls weren't happy and the boys were shocked.

"You _are_ a girl right?" one of them asked.

Kiba had decided to answer for her, "She is! Akamaru says so!"

Naruko glared, "What? You think a girl can't possibly complete something like this? Would any of you be willing to say that to your mothers or sisters?"

Kiba gulped visibly and backed down immediately. Some of the other boys did as well. Others though, weren't smart enough to see the threat for what it was. Sexist idiots.

Iruka just watched them all with wide, wary eyes.

When it came to precision and accuracy, Naruko beat almost everyone again, which got varied reactions. Sasuke was on par with her and Hinata's aim was near perfect as well, so it seemed that she had competition. Worthy competition.

Finally, she fought Iruka. Each kid had five minutes to get a hit in. As Naruko hadn't been allowed to begin physical training, she was going on instinct. She got him within three minutes, which was still better than _most_ of the class - though the Uchiha beat her by twenty-three seconds - and the lazy girls called her a cheater.

She turned to them, "If you took life seriously and trained like I do, you'd be able to do it too. But you don't and you're pretty much useless as kunoichi."

By the end of the day, Naruko had made enemies out of all of the girls. Except Hinata and maybe Ino. But she got along well with some of the clan boys, which wasn't that odd seeing as clans begin teaching their children early on to prepare them for shinobi life. That was why the clan kids did better than the civilians.

Shino and Choji were immediately drawn to her, because she didn't insult or make fun of them. Shikamaru went along with what Choji said because he trusted his best friend's judgement. And Kiba liked that she wasn't afraid to get dirty and that she liked Akamaru.

From that day forward, they became friends. None of them asked what was under her mask, nor did they try to pry into her private life. They skipped class every now and then, whenever they got bored. Played pranks on unsuspecting villagers. It was fun.

Even with that, Naruko managed to attain and maintain the spot as Top Kunoichi, because she actually trained and studied instead of worrying about her weight and hair and whether or not Sasuke liked her. In fact, she ignored the Uchiha most of the time, which didn't seem to sit too well with him.

He made attempts to get her attention, which he thought didn't work. He did succeed, but Naruko was good enough to make it look like he failed. It was fun to see his pudgy, little cheeks puff out in exasperation at a perceived failure.

* * *

"Now, they're going to give you trick questions on evasive maneuvers," said TenTen as she made Naruko go through the motions... again.

Naruko dodged another kunai, rolling under it and coming up quickly, only to receive a kick in the ribs, that knocked the breath from her lungs.

TenTen tsked on time with Kyuubi, though not knowing she had. "You need to learn to anticipate attacks. While you take your time dodging, your enemy can already be working on another attack."

Naruko cartwheeled to the right, putting her arm out and stopping the kick aimed for her face while she was upside down.

When she returned to her feet, TenTen was smiling with pride.

"That's what I mean. Good job."

Naruko preened.

* * *

Months blended together.

Kyuubi was still a taskmaster. TenTen was still like an older sister. Uchiha was still trying to get her attention for some reason.

Soon, years went by.

Sasuke had started to tease her, with the hope of getting a reaction. She would make comebacks that would embarrass him and then he'd stomp off to fume in secret. It was a regular occurrence with them. He called her 'butch' because she was like him when it came to training, and she dubbed him 'ducky' because his hair defied gravity in the back.

They maintained the highest scores throughout their Academy days. The fan-girls insisted that Naruko was just trying to get Sasuke's attention and trying to take him from them. When she had gotten wind of that, she laughed in their faces. Sasuke wasn't exactly a prince or something, if she'd go for anyone, it'd be his brother Itachi. Now Itachi, was something else.

Ino and Sakura had joined the Sasuke Fan Club, which was also the, Let's Hate Naruko Club. Any respect she may have had for them, went out the window. Especially when they spread rumors around the school that the reason Naruko wore a mask, was because she was hideous. They claimed to have seen her face and that she had buck teeth, bad acne, and a hairlip.

So Naruko spread some rumors and with the help of Choji, Shika, Shino, and Kiba, people were hearing all about it. Sakura had a disease that would keep her flat chested forever and Ino was using a Genjutsu to appear thin. Some of the best pranks she ever pulled. And no one but her friends knew that she started them!

Naruko was a prank master. She specialized in never getting caught. Not only did the authorities not know who pulled the pranks, neither did the Anbu or the Hokage. She was that good at covering her tracks. It was all thanks to Kyuubi's evil training from hell.

When words got back to the 'Bitch Twins', as Naruko called them, about the rumors, all hell broke loose. They ran around screaming threats at everyone and even attempted to start something with Naruko herself. She had ignored them.

Sakura yelled insults, her sweet and innocent persona from year one had been gone for a while. She got right up in Naruko's face. The class watched the interaction, some placing bets on the outcome. There was always some form of drama and it wasn't like they could be faulted. Seeing Sakura trying to act tough to hide her embarrassment over her forehead, was hilarious.

Everyone froze in horror when Sakura actually grabbed Naruko's mask and attempted to remove it. Sakura promptly found herself dangling from the three story window of their classroom. Her red dress pooling around her neck, showing the world her flat chest that was wrapped in bandages.

Everyone had laughed at her misfortune as she begged for Naruko not to drop her.

Naruko was unimpressed. The girl couldn't even save herself from a fall like that? How pathetic! Was she not a kunoichi in training?

After that bit of drama ended, life at school went back to normal. Well, as normal as ninja school can get anyway. The days were counting down to graduation. Everyone was excited to get out of the Academy and become 'adults'.

Naruko snorted. She didn't believe that you were an adult just because you graduated. You had to prove that you were mature in her book. Maturity was marked by many things. She didn't think it was right to allow Genin to drink alcohol. The whole, 'old enough to kill, old enough to drink' thing was a load of shit! Rookie Genin weren't responsible enough to handle alcohol. They'd imbibe themselves into oblivion just to show off! Their bodies were also too young to be consuming any kind of alcohol.

TenTen had graduated at Top Kunoichi the former year and Naruko was excited to live up to that legacy, especially since she and TenTen trained together.

"Hey Naruko, the exam is tomorrow. Are you nervous?" Choji asked as they sat around at lunch.

She shook her head, "No. I have a feeling that it isn't as hard as people make it out to be."

"Not hard for you. Some of us aren't as smart though," Kiba said, petting Akamaru and looking bitter.

"I actually study. If you did, you'd be like me," Naruko stuck her tongue out.

The boys all shrugged, "Meh."

 **You're smarter than them because I'm here, you know. I'm the one that trained you.**

 _They don't know that though. Bite me!_

 **Not interested.**

Naruko sighed and looked at the school building that had been her personal hell for five years. Tomorrow, she'd become a Genin and be one step closer to her goal.

Tomorrow, ultimate power was closer in reach.

* * *

Naruko awoke early and went about her morning routine. She got dressed, ate breakfast, and set off for the Academy after making sure her mask was in place.

 **I wonder how many are going to pass this.**

 _Who knows?_

The classroom was full of young teenagers who were all excited about passing the exam and finally becoming ninja. Finally getting to go out and get paid and 'save princesses'. She wondered how long it would be before their preconceived notions were torn down.

Naruko rolled her eyes when she heard the Sasuke Fan Club talk about who was going to be the best. How the number one girl would get Sasuke because he only deserved the best of the kunoichi. Naruko sneered in disgust. There was no way she wanted Sasuke. He wasn't her type. Yes he was good looking but his personality was annoying. He was boring and stuffy and like most Uchiha, couldn't handle being ignored or not being the best. But he also wasn't something to be won. He was a person, no matter how annoying her was.

The Uchiha were into perfection and being the best, and though she was the best, she was far from perfect. She had a Biju sealed within her, had a face that looked like it was mauled by a wild animal, and was hated by nearly everyone in the village. Even if she wanted to be with Sasuke, his family would never accept such a thing. No one's family would accept her. She came to grips with that realisation years ago.

Yet, even though she wasn't his biggest fan, she had to admit that he some good qualities. Hard worker, probably ingrained by his parents. Loyal to those he cared for. Honest to a fault. Didn't like Fan-girls.

She took her seat up in the back and waited for Iruka to show up. A couple of minutes later, Sasuke appeared and sat next to her. Even though they weren't friends or got along all that much, considering how much they argued and insulted each other, he still chose to sit beside her, for some reason. He never gave an answer whenever she asked.

"Hey, Ducky. How was your night?" she teased.

He scowled, "Well Butch, it was pretty good."

She snorted and folded her arms. "And what happened to the young Lord Uchiha to make him so happy this morning?" she asked with a hidden smirk.

"You don't need to know," he said, leaning his elbows on the desk and crossing his fingers under his chin in his normal brooding pose.

She smirked evilly beneath her mask, "Did the almighty Uchiha finally get his first chest hair?"

Sasuke's face went red and he glared at her, "No!"

Naruko snickered, "Sorry. I guess you haven't hit puberty yet. I'll ask again in a couple of years."

Sasuke leaned in and opened his mouth to no doubt say something snarky, but she beat him to it.

"You offended pretty boy? Who knew that the great Uchiha was so emotional," she teased.

Sasuke backed off with shocked eyes. He finally smiled a little, "You're annoying sometimes you know?"

Her head tilted, "Huh?" What was the smile for?

He shook his head and face the front and mumbled under his breath, "But I like that about you."

She was pretty sure that if her hearing wasn't so advanced she wouldn't have heard that, so she disregarded it. Especially since she didn't really understand what he meant by it.

Iruka showed up finally and announced the first test.

The were given an hour to finish a written exam that was one hundred questions long. The students groaned collectively because those were too many. Naruko had finished hers with ease, but it took about half an hour because the questions were so long. That and there were ten essays. She sat back and fiddled with her ponytail for the rest of the time period.

Iruka gave them half and hour of free time while he graded the tests.

Naruko busied herself with her MP3 played until he announced the highest scores.

"I'm going to tape this paper to the wall. Wait until I move before you crowd around it," Iruka said as he pulled some tape from his desk drawer.

Once the paper was up and Iruka was a safe distance away, nearly everyone rushed to see their grades. Naruko and Sasuke remained seated, both knowing that they were the top students. They had been for the last three years so it wasn't like that would change overnight.

"Iruka sensei!" a girl whined.

Said man gave her a questioning look, "Yes, Ayumi?"

"Naruko cheated!" the girl yelled. Every other fan-girl backed her up and soon there was a whole riot over it.

Iruka folded his arms and asked, "What proof do you have of this?"

"She sits next to Sasuke-kun and obviously cheated off of him!" the girl screamed.

Iruka smiled, "You obviously haven't learned yet, Ayumi. I'm a Chunin and my eyes were all over this room. I know who cheated and who didn't. Naruko finished before everyone else. Long before Sasuke did. She never cheated. If you look at the paper closely, you'll see how low your grade is. That's because I caught you cheating off of Minako three times. So before you try to convict someone of a crime, make sure you aren't guilty of the same crime, so you don't come across as a hypocrite."

Ayumi blushed as everyone laughed at her, because that's what they did when one was singled out and made a fool of. She went back to her seat, stomping like child the whole way.

Naruko looked at Iruka with admiration and gratefulness. He was the only Academy teacher that liked her. When the other teachers tried to tamper with her grades, she'd tell him and he'd bring the matter to the Hokage, who would then deal with it. Iruka was important.

Iruka gave her a wink and returned his attention to the others, "Any more false accusations?"

The pre-teens shook their heads.

"Good. Now, outside for the Taijutsu and Precision tests!" Iruka said, heading for the door.

Naruko and Sasuke stood and followed the group to the Academy's training ground.

Iruka's assistant Mizuki, arrived in time to help with the testing.

There, they were all tested on how good their aim was first. Each pre-teen was given five kunai and five shuriken. They then had to hit the target in the middle of the bullseye.

Many got between five and eight of the ten weapons on the actual dummy. Sasuke actually threw his all at once and they hit dead center. Shino got the second highest score for getting nine to hit the center and one on the head. Naruko was embarrassed to be a girl, when nearly every girl missed the target completely! Only Hinata and Ino actually hit the dummy. And Hinata got seven to hit the middle while Ino had six.

Finally, Naruko was up. Last as always. She took her shuriken and kunai from Mizuki, and took her position.

Naruto brought them all up and charged them with her Wind Chakra. Kyuubi had already started her on training elemental affinities. Both felt that Naruko would probably get no help from her Genin Team's Sensei, so they took matters into their own hands/paws.

"What the..?" she heard Iruka mumble when he saw the blue chakra running along the blades.

She let them all fly, smirking when they landed perfectly in the center of the target on the dummy's stomach. The stick that the dummy was tied to, cracked in half and toppled to the ground, taking the dummy with it.

Iruka checked it over and marked her. "Perfect, Naruko. But what did you do with your chakra?"

She smirked, "Well, I noticed how dull the weapons were, so I added some of my Wind Chakra to them so that they would stick." She was glad that her time to show off was easily covered by such a lame lie.

Iruka nodded with a bewildered look. She already knew her chakra nature. Amazing.

"Okay, next is the Taijutsu test. You will battle me! I suggest you get a hit in quick, because we are timing you. There is no set time limit, we're just going to judge based on how fast you can get a hit in. Though I warn you, anything that takes too long or shows poor skill, will get you a failure," he told them.

The majority of the girls did poorly again. Hinata managed to get a hit in, two and a half minutes after the beginning of the fight, but started to apologize right afterwards. Ino was a little bit faster than that. Naruko finished within twelve seconds after chopping Iruka in the back of the neck.

For the boys, Shino managed within two minutes. Sasuke was the same as Naruko, ferocious as he landed a hard punch to Iruka's chest in twelve seconds. Kiba and Akamaru tag teamed Iruka and landed a double kick around four minutes in. Everyone else did rather poorly.

The girls once again made a fuss over her and Sasuke tying. She ignored them and let Iruka deal with it.

They were taken inside and Naruko sat down. She felt something odd and rolled her eyes.

Genjutsu.

She looked around at the other students who were all fast asleep.

"Hey sensei, how long is this going to take?!" she called out.

Iruka and Mizuki looked at her in obvious shock.

"I mean, do I have to wait for them to snap out of it? How long will that be?" she asked.

The two looked at each other and Iruka pulled out his clip board, "Were you affected at all Naruko?"

"I felt the Genjutsu being placed on the room, but it never got me. Sorry, sensei."

Iruka sighed, "Okay. You'll just have to sit there and wait for them to get it I'm afraid."

She nodded and pulled out the MP3 player again.

 _This thing is a life saver I swear. I'd be dead from boredom if it weren't for this._

 **Hey, what am I for then?**

 _Moral support?_

Sasuke was the next to show signs of breaking from the Genjutsu. He sat up and looked over to see Naruko jamming away. Her head bobbing to the music.

If only he had the Sharingan, he would've beaten her.

Naruko paused her motions to glare at something in the middle of the room. She took out an ear bud and said, "Hey Shikamaru, stop pretending!"

The lazy boy sat up and glared at her over his shoulder. "You just _had_ to say something?" he grumbled, looking irate.

"Yeah, you noticed not long after me, but you faked at being caught in it too long!" the girl replied.

"What?" Iruka asked, completely befuddled.

"Shikamaru's been pretending for a while. He woke up a few minutes after I asked you about the test," she told her favorite sensei.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "It's not a big deal. So I can see through a Genjutsu, so what?"

"If you weren't so damn lazy, you'd probably be tying with Ducky and I. Can't you just not be lazy for once and prove that you're better than what people think?" she asked.

"Underestimation can be a ninja's greatest strength," Shikamaru sighed. "I just wanted to sleep."

"Do that when you get home," Naruko insisted.

Shikamaru shrugged and stood up. He went and sat on the desk near the window and looked off at the clouds.

Sasuke leaned into Naruko and ask, "How did you know he was faking?"

"His breathing changed and his heart rate sped up, signaling that he was awake," she shrugged.

Kyubi had been very particular during that lesson. Naruko learned how to gauge someone's alertness by stalking civilians. Not fun.

By lunch time, most of the class had finally woken up. Mizuki sighed and removed the Genjutsu from those who didn't get it, Iruka having already written up the scores.

Iruka taped the scores up again and waited for the complaining to start.

"Naruko cheated!"

"There's no way she got a perfect score!"

"Liar!"

"Bitch!"

Iruka looked at Mizuki who sighed, "You owe me."

Mizuki approached the fuming fan-girls, "Sorry to disappoint you, but Naruko wasn't even affected by my Genjutsu. I have to agree with her and say that if you trained more, you'd be just like her."

The girls all grumbled, but let it go.

They were dismissed for lunch which went by pretty quickly. Iruka was starting the last test when they returned.

"You'll each come up and demonstrate the three Jutsu for the Ninjutsu test." Iruka sat down and pulled out the clipboard again.

The fan-girls actually did better in this exam. A lot better. Most of them got the Bunshin jutsu and the Kawarimi down without a problem. Henge, was still a little shaky. It was also annoying to see them try and turn into Sasuke.

The boys were whipping the fan-girls and Naruko wanted so much to be a boy in that moment. Graduating as Top Kunoichi didn't feel so good when most of the other girls were useless. Only Hinata and Ino were the other girls to do Ninjutsu perfectly. Hinata did everything with such skill and Naruko was flattered when the girl used her as her Henge. Ino turned into a perfect replica of Iruka. Both girls had passed the Ninjutsu test with high marks, which had Naruko bouncing in her seat. Kunoichi that weren't weak and annoying! Even if she didn't like Ino, at least the girl trained.

Sasuke and Shino were the best out of the boys, with Kiba coming up behind them. Sasuke produced three Bunshin, used the Kawarimi with Naruko who didn't appreciate appearing in the middle of the floor. He then transformed into his brother. A perfect pass. Shino did everything with good chakra control. Overall, impressive. Kiba was spectacular on the Henge and the Bunshin, but Kawarimi took two tries. Still, it was good.

Naruko went last, again.

"Show us a Bunshin," Iruka said.

Naruko made the sign and sighed, knowing what was going to happen. Twenty Naruko's shimmered into existence.

Iruka and Mizuki gaped. "How?" they asked in unison.

Naruko laughed nervously, "I have large chakra reserves so I can't just make one."

They nodded in understanding. Iruka sighed, "Okay, Kawarimi next."

Naruko thought about it for a second, then smirked. She made the sign and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a training field with three other people who were looking at her in confusion.

"Uh… sorry. I thought that since it was Friday and TenTen usually works at this time, that I'd use her as a substitution for my exam. I didn't know that I was taking her away from training," Naruko bowed in embarrassment.

The pale eyed guy, whom she assumed was a Hyuga, just huffed. Pretentious little twat. The twins in green spandex said something about youth and how she was showing flames of it and something of that nature. They hugged in a creepy way, then wished her good luck on passing and she substituted back to the classroom.

Looking at Iruka, she laughed, "So, how was TenTen's reaction? I got to meet her weird team. I have to say, I don't like green spandex."

Mizuki and Iruka shivered, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Very good on that. Finally, show us a Henge please?" Iruka asked with a smile.

Naruko smirked, getting a great idea. However, it wouldn't help her pass as Top Kunoichi and she had to leave it. She thought about someone who represented power, someone that she wished to be better than.

She made a hand sign and transformed.

Both Mizuki and Iruka shivered when they saw who Naruko transformed into. Orochimaru. One of the Sannin and current S Class criminal from Konoha. He was a very creepy, old man, who liked to kidnap little boys(pedophile), and use them as test subjects.

Orochimaru smirked, "Who should I experiment on first?"

"Okay okay! That's good!" Mizuki panicked.

Naruko returned to normal and snickered, "He _is_ a creep isn't he?"

"You passed with flying colors Naruko. Good job!" Iruka said as his heart beat went back to normal.

Naruko returned to her seat.

Iruka and Mizuki looked at each other and nodded.

Sasuke was looking at her like she had taken her mask off.

"What?" she mumbled.

"You are something else," he shook his head.

By the end of the day, Iruka and Mizuki had finally tallied up the scores. Once again, Iruka taped the paper to the wall.

Naruko and Sasuke watched as the pre-teens rushed to see their grades. Both knew where they stood and didn't need to cause a stampede in the room just to see it with their own eyes.

The girls all shrieked in horror. " _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!"

Naruko was snickering at them. Even though she wasn't a part of it, it was still good to win their little contest. "I win, bitches!" she yelled over the noise.

They all turned and gave her glares that could freeze hell over.

"Win what?" Sasuke asked, interested for once.

Naruko looked at him, "They had this contest, that whoever was Top Kunoichi, got the rights to Sasuke!"

He blanched and shivered. "Then I'm glad you won," he mumbled.

"We won't let you have him!" the fan-girls all yelled in unison.

Naruko looked at the Uchiha, "Well, looks like it doesn't matter. Sorry Ducky."

Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance. Why couldn't she show more interest when things involved him? He wouldn't mind if she liked him. She wasn't a stalker and she didn't fawn over him. She was the very definition of shinobi.

He wanted to know what was below the mask, but didn't feel like prying. He wanted to know what her life was like, but wouldn't bother her over it. He knew that she was an orphan, but he didn't know anything beyond that. She was smart and strong. And so mysterious that he nearly died from the curiosity. Of course he never outwardly showed these things. That was not what an Uchiha did.

Iruka stood, "Congratulations Naruko, on being Rookie of the Year!"

Years ago that had been a spot only for boys, but recently, the Top Kunoichi had been getting more points than the Top Ninja so the title ended up being switched to include anybody. Naruko thanked him and grinned when the bell rang.

 _It's over!_

 **Finally!**

"Come back on Monday to get your team placements!" Iruka yelled to the pre-teens as they ran out the door.

* * *

 **A/N: Another is done!**

 **-I ended up adding a lot of shit to this chapter and fixed a lot of spelling and grammar errors. At least the ones I saw. I'm a better writer than when I was 2 years ago so I could see a lot of mistakes, though I'm sure there are so much more that have eluded me.**

 **-I wanted to give some other characters a chance at being better. Ino isn't super enemy now. Kiba and Shino get more recognition. I did not call all girls useless, only the fan-girls. Sakura is still bad because she plays a role as a villain in this, sorry to the Sakura fans. And no, I don't hate her as a character when she's made not annoying or fan-girlish. I have to disagree with Kishimoto on pairing her and Sasuke, because she knew next to nothing about him and fan-girled without trying to actually learn about him or get to know him. I ship NaruSasu and SasuNaru a lot. I ship him with others, but Sakura from the manga and anime, doesn't fly.**

 **How was it?**

 **Let me know.**

 **Ja ne! :D**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**


	5. We're Genin Now

**A/N: Fifth chapter! This chapter has been edited! Fixed a lot of mistakes. A LOT OF MISTAKES!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **-ORIGINAL CHAPTER WAS 3,655 WORDS LONG.**

 **-NEW CHAPTER IS 4,876 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 **Scars show us where we have been, they do not dictate where we are going.- David Rossi.**

Sasuke walked into his home and was surprised to see his older brother waiting for him. Itachi was usually caught up with his duties as a member of Anbu so he was rarely around anymore. Sasuke had gotten used to never seeing him, so it was a big shock.

"Itachi, what are doing home so early?" he asked, removing his shoes and placing them by the door. He wasn't really expecting an answer because some things were 'private'. As he got older, his brother could rarely give him the answers to the questions he had, so Sasuke learned to stop asking altogether to save himself the disappointment.

His brother was watching his every move, a slight smirk was in his face, his coal black eyes glinting with some form of knowledge, and Sasuke was beginning to feel uneasy. Something was going to happen and he had a feeling that he wasn't going to enjoy it. Itachi rarely showed emotion so this was something even he enjoyed.

"Well Sasuke, I wanted to hear about how you did on your exam today," Itachi said, folding his arms expectantly, smirking deviously.

"Yes! How did my little Sasuke do!" his mother said, sprinting down the hall, a soup ladle in hand. She was in slippers and had a black apron wrapped around her middle. For such a domestic scene, Sasuke knew that she could make that soup ladle a deadly weapon if the need arose for it. It made him shiver.

"I was the best out of the boys. Perfect scores," he said, wondering what was going on. She was already smushing his face together and cooing her pride.

"So you were Rookie of the Year!" his mother cheered.

"No."

The cheering ceased and the two looked at him in shock.

Mikoto looked frighteningly horrified. "How could you not be if you had perfect scores and you were the best out of the boys?" she asked.

Sasuke sighed, "In recent years, Rookie of the Year has been changed because the Top Kunoichi has been doing better than the Rookie, so they made it a unisex title. I was beaten."

Mikoto placed her hands on her hips and huffed. "And _who_ managed to beat my baby for Rookie of the Year?!" she demanded, raising the ladle threateningly.

Itachi was smirking evilly now and Sasuke was convinced that he already knew. He just wanted to tease him over it. His life was hell.

"Naruko did. She used Wind Chakra on her kunai and shuriken to make them stick to her target. When she was taking her Ninjutsu test, she made twenty Bunshin. She also substituted with someone who wasn't in the room. Finally, she Henged into Orochimaru and threatened to experiment on Sensei. She is the Rookie of the Year, and I don't mind," Sasuke told them.

Mikoto gaped and Itachi was hiding his smile behind his hand.

"So, you like that your crush has done so well? Even better than you?" Itachi taunted.

Sasuke flushed, "I don't like her like that! I'm okay with her being the Number One Rookie because she actually deserves it! Most of the other girls are ridiculous!"

His mother and brother were snickering at him.

"Ugh!" he glared and pushed past them to go to his room.

"Oh, Sasuke!" his mother called out to him.

He turned slightly, showing that he was listening.

"If you want to pursue this young lady, I'd like to meet her! And your father will as well!" she smiled.

Sasuke shook his head and continued down the hall to his room. How dare they tease him about that! So he actually liked her, it wasn't a big deal! It wasn't like he wasn't growing up or anything. He was at the age where he'd start thinking about his future. And if said future didn't have a clingy, whiny, fan-girl on his arm, then he'd be happy.

* * *

Naruko walked into one of the few stores that didn't kick her out. TenTen's family owned the best weapons shop in the village and her parents were awesome. They let the girls train together and play together and sometimes, Naruko would get discounts on weaponry because she was a regular customer and often requested special orders.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" the young voice of TenTen called out.

TenTen came running from the back room - her little hair buns bouncing as she did so - and stopped when she saw Naruko. "You!" she said, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. "You used me in your exam!"

Naruko laughed, unabashed, "Sorry. I felt like showing the little fan-girls what a real kunoichi was."

TenTen regarded her for a second before rolling her brown eyes. "Thanks I guess. So you graduated?"

Naruko smirked, "Rookie of the Year!"

"YES!" TenTen cheered, throwing her arms up. "A girl _can_ make Number One Rookie!" she yelled.

Naruko snorted, "You're a little more excited than I am!"

"Naruko, this just proves that not all kunoichi around our age are useless! Some, like you and I, actually train! And you being the best of your year, proves it!" the weapon specialist smiled, pride leaking from every pore.

Naruko rolled her eyes, but didn't argue. Kunoichi these days were severely underestimated and demeaned because they didn't take shinobi life seriously. Instead, they devoted their time to fan-girling over some poor boy and completely ruining the reputation of the few notable kunoichi out there.

"So... can I get you anything?" TenTen asked after calming down.

Naruko nodded and requested some more shuriken and kunai. TenTen was quick about collecting what she needed. They chatted for a few minutes, before Naruko left to go and train. TenTen had shop duty and wouldn't be able to come with.

* * *

On Monday, Naruko pulled out her new outfit. The one she would wear from now on. When she became a Chunin, she'd change her outfit again.

It was a black, battle dress with a high collar. There were slits on either side that were outlined in white. The bottom of the dress and the pointed half sleeves had a flame design that seemed to wrap around her from every angle. Over that she wore a breastplate that she herself created and painted. It was white to contrast the black of her dress and also had flames coming up from the bottom. A large red silk cloth which matched the red of the flames, wrapped around her waist to keep the breastplate in place. It also served as a weapon in case she needed it.

Underneath her clothes, she wore a half body suit that was also black in color. It stopped at her midriff and had a built in mask that she proudly wore. The arms cut off at the wrists. It was a special fabric that cooled when it was too hot and warmed when it was too cold. Made for all temperatures.

Lastly, she wore fishnet knee highs and shinobi heels. Her colors were red black and white. A nice combination. She had her own style and soon people all over the nations would know who she was simply by a glance.

She'd been saving up for forever to get this outfit because as an orphan she did not have parents to buy her the things she needed. Years of hiding away money every month and collecting what she could find had led to this moment. Soon she'd be able to get more because she'd actually have a paycheck.

Making sure she had all of her weapons together and everything was in order, she set off for the Academy.

 **Do not joke around today. Your sensei must believe that you are worth spending time on,** advised Kyuubi.

 _I know. Time for team placement!_

 **The other monkeys you get stuck with most likely won't be as good as you. You'll need to exercise patience.**

 _I know. Am I a monkey?_

 **Yes.**

The blonde huffed.

The class was filled with excitement. Everyone who had graduated was there. Naruko took her seat in the back again and waited for Ducky to appear. Like clockwork, the Uchiha sat down at her left a minute later.

She noticed that he wasn't looking in her direction. In fact, he seemed to be looking away from her, like something was wrong.

"Hey Ducky!" she called, watching as he flinched a bit. "What's wrong?"

"Hn."

Well he was normal at least. She needed to break him from this weird mood that he was in. It wasn't healthy to brood too early in the morning, he could get wrinkles and then what would happen to his delicate skin?

"Are you sad cause you haven't gotten that chest hair yet?" she teased.

His neck went red and he turned to her and growled, "No!"

She started to laugh at him and he seemed to blush even more. "Are you okay? Did a fan-girl see you in your skibbies or something?"

He glared at her, "No. Can we just sit here like usual and you not ask me questions?"

She nodded reluctantly when he seemed so serious.

Sasuke was having a horrible morning. In fact, his whole weekend sucked! Yes, sucked! His mother and brother teased him all weekend and he couldn't go anywhere without being reminded of Naruko. The things they said had him blushing so hard. Then, when he left for the Academy this morning, his mother told him to 'have fun with his girlfriend'!

How could he look her in the eye when all these thoughts were running through his mind? There was no way he could pull that off! And then she was teasing him and he couldn't take it!

The silence between them was slightly uncomfortable, but thankfully she didn't bug him about it.

Something loomed in his right peripheral and he looked to see Naruko studying him closely. Her blue eye was shining.

"What?" he muttered.

A loud shout caught their attention. Sasuke's stomach sank even lower upon realization.

"Naruko, get away from Sasuke!" Sakura, the queen of the banshees, screamed and hit the blonde on the back.

Naruko lost her balance and fell… on top of Sasuke.

The poor Uchiha just couldn't get a break it seemed. Now she was laying on him. Why did the universe hate him?

He laid there as Naruko stood up and began yelling at Sakura for making her fall, and that if anyone was to blame it was the,'banshee bitch'. He simply pulled himself off the floor and sat back in his seat, waiting for Naruko to stop threatening the pink menace. Once she sat, they muttered an apology to each other and went silent again. It never happened. End of story.

Iruka saved the morning by walking into the room. "Congratulations on becoming Genin!" he smiled at them.

Naruko zoned out as her favorite sensei started quoting some incredibly long speech that he probably gave to some other class before. It didn't really mean anything... to her at least. She already knew what being a ninja entailed. This speech was for those(fan-girls), who didn't know anything about shinobi life. Of course she highly doubted that they were going to heed Iruka's words.

He began announcing the teams when he finally finished.

The first six consisted of people that were pretty much nobodys. Fan-girls and lame boys. They'd most likely be back again because they failed.

"Team seven will have Uzumaki Naruko, Uchiha Sasuke..."

The two straightened out of fear. It was most likely, that they would be paired with an idiot.

"...and Haruno Sakura."

The pinkette shot up from her chair and yelled, "Hell yeah!" fists pumping.

Sasuke and Naruko looked at each other in horror! Why her?!

Naruko raise her hand, "Iruka-sensei!"

"Yes?" he asked.

Naruko fixed the Chunin with a hurt look, which expressing with most of her face covered and only one eye visible, was award worthy. "What did we do?" she asked, affecting an innocent and hurt persona.

Iruka was obviously confused and asked, "What?"

"Since we're the best in the class, I was wondering what we did wrong to be landed with that, instead of a competent teammate," Naruko said, pointing to the sorry excuse for a kunoichi.

Iruka had to hide his smirk behind his clip board. Leave it to Naruko.

Sakura wasn't happy about the comment either. She glared at the blonde.

Iruka cleared his throat, "Well, I'm sorry Naruko, but the top boy and girl… are always paired with the dead last."

Naruko leaned back, then turned to look at Sasuke. They gazed at each other, before Naruko snorted and turned away from the class toward the wall behind her to hide her laughs. Sasuke was smirking a minuscule smirk.

Naruko got control of herself, "Thanks sensei. Somehow, I feel better about this."

By now, the whole class was laughing at the pinkette. Naruko had a way with words. Even her enemies couldn't help but laugh.

Some would claim bullying, unnecessarily harsh, but Naruko felt no pity. Sakura and Ino had been the worst of the fan-girls and while Ino was still a fan-girl, her parents would never allow her to slack off in training. She was the member and heiress of a clan and had expectations placed on her. While she could still be a fan of Sasuke's, she had to train and study on top of her near religious adoration of Sasuke and her primping of herself.

Sakura did not come from a ninja family. Her family were civilians and she had nothing much to live up to. She'd come to the Academy wanting to be a kunoichi and effectively lost all hope for the future when she laid eyes on Sasuke. Oh, she memorized content. When putting forth effort she could learn a lot. Knew the rules of shinobi conduct perfectly. But she couldn't do Taijutsu, or Shurikenjutsui, barely had energy for Ninjutsu, barely scraped by on Genjutsu. All she had was theory to back her up and theory wasn't enough.

A ninja's life was built on practical knowledge first and foremost and Sakura was the worst in class because she didn't care to do anything else. Memorizing a book is great, but it wouldn't help you in the long run. She was so concerned about her curves and her diets and long(and admitted luxurious) hair that she ignored every other aspect of shinobi life. One day, it was going to bite her in the ass.

Team Seven was in for a hard time.

Iruka continued on. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino made up team eight. And Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino made up team ten. No one else really mattered.

They were dismissed for lunch, in which Naruko decided to go to Ichiraku's. Sasuke chose to tag along for some reason, but she didn't really mind.

"I'll admit, that I'm worried about how this is going to play out. Especially with Banshee on our team," Naruko sulked.

Sasuke sighed, "I'm not thrilled about it either."

"I mean, you and I aren't friends, but we aren't enemies. We get along pretty well. But her! You don't like her and I hate her! How is this going to work at all? Why do we have to suffer?" she grumbled.

Sasuke held back a grin. Naruko surely was something.

Teuchi welcomed them with open arms and immediately went to get Ayame. The eighteen year old came to the front with a big grin on her face. She took their orders and talked to them for a few minutes.

When they got their food, Sasuke was looking at Naruko with confusion. How was she going to eat with the mask in the way?

"You're Uchiha Sasuke right?" the server girl asked with a smile. He turned and nodded his head.

"I didn't think an Uchiha liked ramen. Or did you come for another reason?" the girl smiled teasingly.

His eyes narrowed and he turned back to Naruko, not bothering to answer. His mouth dropped when he saw Naruko's bowl was empty and she was sitting there, watching him. How did she do it? He was looking at her! His eyes bulged. When he looked at the girl, she did it! She was helping Naruko keep her secret! Damn it!

When they finally left the ramen stand, Ayame and Teuchi were snickering. "The Uchiha likes our Naruko!"

* * *

It was four in the afternoon. The other senseis had shown up on time to collect their teams. Team Seven though, was still waiting for their sensei to show up.

"Where the hell is this guy?" Naruko demanded for the fourth time in the past three hours. "It's like he _decided_ to do this deliberately."

Sakura was trying to get Sasuke's attention and was failing miserably. She didn't seem to care about anything else other than 'Sasuke-kun'.

Sasuke was ignoring her and looking at Naruko and the blonde was busy pouting.

"Seriously, I have half a mind to prank guy!" Naruko said in frustration.

Sasuke's eyes widened a little. If she did prank their sensei, Kami help the man or woman. It was a slim chance they'd get a female Jonin to oversee them, but still possible.

The door opened and they all looked up expectantly. A tall man with spiky, silver hair that seemed to defy gravity and tilt to his left a bit, walked in. He was wearing a mask like Naruko, and had his headband slanted over his left eye. He was dressed in the standard Jonin uniform and even though they could only see one of his eyes, he somehow managed to look totally bored.

Naruko shared something in common with the man. They both wore masks, and their left eyes were covered. His by his headband, and hers, because her bangs were in the way.

He cleared his throat, "Team seven?" His voice was droll.

Naruko looked at Sasuke with a livid eye. He shook his head in response to her non verbal question and she sighed in resignation.

The man studied them for a moment. "I'd say that my first impression of you is that you're lame."

Naruko looked at Sasuke again, nearly pleading. He shook his head again, though he too was glaring at the man. What Sakura did didn't matter.

"Meet me on the roof," he said and disappeared in a puff of smoke. So either he was a Kage Bunshin or he Shunshined.

Naruko looked at Sasuke, "Last one to the roof is a loser!" She then too disappeared in a puff of smoke, using her version of the Shunshin to beat the other two.

 _Thank you Kyubi, for teaching me how to do that!_

 **It would have been pathetic if you didn't know how. I remember a time where children younger than you were learning more advanced techniques before leaving the Academy. It's too easy these days.**

The man seemed shocked when she appeared from a Shunshin right in front of him. Her attention wasn't on him though, she seemed to be waiting for the other two.

Naruko smirked when Sasuke flipped onto the roof, from the left side of the building. "You used the window didn't you?"

"Hn."

They stood there, completely ignoring the Jonin while they waited.

Finally, Naruko couldn't take it and said, "Where the hell is she?! Don't tell me she's _lost_!"

Faintly, footsteps could be heard from afar. The two Genin looked at the door to the rooftop and then each other, the realization hitting both of them at the same time.

Sasuke frowned at Naruko, "And that's out teammate."

"She sucks!" Naruko said, slapping a hand to her face in embarrassment. "Seriously! A contest to get to the roof first. One jumps out a window, another Shunshin's. What does she do?! She runs up four flights of stairs!"

They shook their heads.

"I swear, teamwork is going to be impossible with her following you blindly and not paying attention to anything else. Then I'll get pissed and choke her to death, unless you hold me back!" Naruko whimpered.

The footsteps got louder as they got closer. Naruko finished her tirade with, "We're fucked… sideways."

Sakura burst through the door, panting heavily from running up all of those stairs.

"She's the loser. What a surprise," Naruko mumbled rolling her eyes to the sky.

Turning to the girl she asked, "What took you so long? Aren't you a Shinobi?"

Sakura frowned, "I'm a kunoichi."

Naruko glared in annoyance.

Sasuke laid a hand on Naruko's shoulder to hold her in place. "Don't waste your time," he whispered.

She nodded silently and sat down next to him on the steps of the sitting area. Sakura joined them finally on his other side. They looked at the man, who had been watching the interaction between the two Genin with interest.

The man concluded, that the two had no confidence or positive feelings for their teammate. Which didn't pose too well for them.

"Well, let's get to know each other and introduce ourselves," he said in a cheery voice that was so fake it made both Naruko _and_ Sasuke wince.

They just looked at him. The pink haired one frowned, "Like… how?"

He drew a blank there. Momentarily, he could understand the other Genin's plight. That was probably the dumbest question he had ever heard, and he was friends with Gai.

"Your name, likes and dislikes, dreams, hobbies, things like that," he explained.

The blonde huffed, "You first. You're the sensei. Set a good example!"

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. I like many things and dislike many things. My dreams... you definitely don't want to know about those. My hobbies, I have a lot of them," he said, smirking under his mask and the twitch that developed under the Uchiha's eye.

The blonde's eye widened, "You're the Copy Ninja!"

He felt surprise and pride that someone as young as her knew about him.

"You're also an avid porn reader."

He was brought back down to earth with that statement. How did she know that? Sure it was common knowledge among the elite shinobi, but it wasn't something that was easily spread around the village or even the elemental nations.

"Pinky, you first," Kakashi ordered, wanting to get off the subject.

"I'm Haruno Sakura! I like…" she paused to look at the only boy on the team, and giggled. "My dream is to…" she giggled even louder this time while still watching him.

Kakashi took notice how he slid closer to the blonde, a small look of disgust on his face. The blonde was shaking her head, her lone, blue eye rolling skyward.

"My hobby is…" this got the loudest squeal in the world along with the creepiest giggle ever!

Kakashi sighed, "And your dislikes?"

The girl's face twisted, "I hate Naruko!"

The blonde snorted and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, "How shall I live on?! My life is over!"

Kakashi smirked under his mask. The blonde obviously didn't care what Sakura thought of her. Kakashi could guess the many reasons that Sakura didn't like Naruko.

She was Rookie of the Year. Seemed to be on good terms with her Uchiha teammate. Didn't care about what others thought. And quite possibly embarrassed the pinkette in the past. He sighed. Girls like Sakura were sorry excuses for kunoichi. It was sad really. If more kunoichi were like Kurenai or Anko - he gave a small, imperceptible shudder - then military strength would be up ten fold.

"Okay then. Blondie, you're up."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko. I love ramen and training. I hate waiting for the ramen to cook, fan-girls, and those who judge others on something they had no control over," she paused as her only visible eye narrowed dangerously.

Kakashi felt shock. Did she know? If so, how did she find out about it? The Hokage was going to be pissed.

"My dreams… no my goals, are to find a way to do the Hiraishin without seals, and to become the most powerful shinobi to ever grace the elemental nations," she finished with nod of her head.

Kakashi nodded as well. _She's interesting. Much better than the pink one, but seems to have a pessimistic side. She also has a pretty foul mouth for someone her age. Has a fetish for ramen. And wears a mask as well. I wonder what that's about._

"Good to know. And last but not least," he said motioning to the Uchiha.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I have many dislikes and few likes. My goal is to defeat my brother in a spar. I train and go for walks, as hobbies," Sasuke said in a clipped tone.

Kakashi sighed inwardly, A bit lackluster for an Uchiha.

Naruko scoffed, "You have a ton of likes."

Sasuke's eyes went wide and Sakura squawked. "There's no way you know more about Sasuke-kun than I do!"

Naruko looked at the girl, "Oh really? What's his favorite food?"

Sakura flushed, "Uh… natto."

Sasuke cringed and Naruko shook her head, "Wrong! Ducky hates natto."

"Well, what does he like?" Sakura demanded.

Naruko snorted, "I'm not telling you! You'll stalk him or something!"

Sasuke looked between the girls and stopped on Naruko. "What _is_ my favorite food?"

She leaned into him and whispered almost inaudibly in his ear, "Onigiri, Okaka, and tomatoes. You hate all sweet things."

He blushed slightly, shocked that she knew him so well.

"She got it," he muttered, looking at the roof.

Kakashi cleared his throat to get the attention back on him and away from teenage hormones. "Now that we know a little more about each other, I'll tell you that we're having a test tomorrow."

The Genin blanched.

"But we just took a test!" Sakura stated, voice shrill.

"Yes, but that was to weed out the ones who had an actual chance of becoming ninja. Only twenty-seven students from a forty student class passed. From here, we weed the potentially good ones out even further by putting you through a survival test," he explained, for the fifteenth time in his life.

"We did survival training in the Academy!" Sakura yelled.

"Not this kind of survival. Out of the twenty-seven that passed the graduation exam, only nine will move on and become true Genin. The others will be shipped back to the Academy for another year. This test has a sixty-six percent chance rate of failure, because you're up against me," Kakashi told the Genin.

Sasuke and Sakura's mouths dropped and he was sure that Naruko's did as well.

"So, you will meet me tomorrow morning at five, in Training Ground Three with full ninja gear. I suggest that you don't eat breakfast or else you'll be vomiting all over the place. See you then," he said and Shunshined away to a secret spot that gave him a good view of the rooftop, so he could view their interactions with each other.

Naruko and Sasuke stood as if one body and without a word to Sakura, jumped off the building with ease. They landed perfectly and walked down the street together. It was almost as if they were a couple. But then it was like they were just friends. What were they to each other? He'd noticed Sasuke's flush, but Naruko didn't seem to be the type of person interested in romance.

Sakura frowned as she went back to the open door and ventured down the stairs after shutting it.

If they somehow managed to pass his test tomorrow, he would have a lot of work to do with teaching them teamwork. Sasuke and Naruko seemed to get along and respect each other. But Sakura wasn't even within their realm of notice. Naruko even said that teamwork with the girl would be bad and actually gave good reasons as to why.

Maybe tomorrow, he'd get a better insight to their feelings for one another.

This will be interesting.

* * *

 **A/N: Another is done!**

 **How was it?** **Let me know.**

 **Check out my other fics. I updated a bunch of fics. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**

 **Ja ne! :D**

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	6. Mayhem

**A/N: Hello people!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **ORIGINAL 2 CHAPTERS WERE A COMBINED 6,634 WORDS LONG.**

 **NEW CHAPTER IS 8,323 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 _ **Scars speak more loudly than the sword that caused them. -Paulo Coelho.**_

* * *

Naruko and Sasuke walked down the street in silence.

Naruko thought about their sensei and sighed, "You know, Kakashi Hatake is notorious for being late. I'm not going to show up at five. I'll try ten."

Sasuke looked at her. She seemed so at ease about it, that he decided he would do the same.

"I'm also eating, because he suggested that we don't eat. He never said 'don't eat'." Naruko said, folding her arms.

Sasuke had to agree. Besides, they would run out of energy. Throwing up wasn't so bad. Compared to being weak and unable to move, he'd take vomiting any day.

"Hey Butch, my parents wanted me to invite my teammates over for dinner tonight, so they can meet them," Sasuke said as the embarrassment rolled off him in waves. That wasn't the exact wording he'd received but he certainly wasn't going to tell her the real wording.

Naruko's one visible eyebrow quirked, "Not that I mind, but why didn't you invite Pinky?"

Sasuke immediately frowned. "They already met her," he stated in an emotionless voice.

Naruko hummed, her lone, visible brow quirking with obvious interest. "But how? It's not like she- Oh my gosh she didn't?!"

Sasuke looked at the horror in Naruko's eye. "That depends on what you think she did," he mumbled.

"She got into the Compound," Naruko stated simply.

Sasuke nodded, not shocked that she managed to work it out. She was brilliant after all. "Got past all of the Uchiha from the gate to my house. She then lingered outside. The problem was that she got the wrong room to spy on. She didn't hide her chakra very well either."

Naruko's mouth was hanging open. Sasuke was sure that if he could see it, it would've had him actually laughing.

"Who caught her?" Naruko asked as a smile stretched across her face, imagining the punishment accompanying such intrusion.

"My brother, Itachi."

Naruko felt a mixture of humor and horror filling her. Uchiha Itachi was know as a veritable hardass and was supposedly terrifying to be around. His masterful control over himself ended up unnerving a lot of people and thinking of all of that focused on Sakura of all people, was hilarious.

"What did he do to her?!"

Sasuke smirked fondly at the memory of his brother dragging Sakura out of his room by her dyed black hair and out the front door. "He escorted her to the police station where he told my father what happened. My father proceeded to call her parents in, but apparently, neither thought that what she did was wrong. With the assistance of the Hokage, my father successfully put a restraining order on her. If she is seen anywhere within three hundred meters of the Compound, she will be incarcerated for a month," he explained. By the end of it, Naruko was laughing maniacally.

"Wow! I think that has to be the best thing ever! Whenever I'm down, I'll just think of that story and I'll feel so much better," Naruko chuckled.

 **Unless I decide to override her foolishness with stories of your own,** threatened Kyubi.

 _Oh come on, don't ruin my buzz!_

Glancing around, she hadn't noticed that she'd been following him to his house until they walked through the gates of the Compound. She whistled at the size. "Is this bigger than the Hyuga Compound?"

"Yes!" Sasuke nodded immediately.

The blonde nodded, "Good. Save for Hinata, I hate that clan."

Sasuke really wanted to know why, but didn't want to intrude upon her personal life. He also did want to come across as a creep.

He was glad that she didn't like Hyugas though. That made it easier for her to like him and his family. The Uchihas and the Hyugas were at odds for years and most likely would continue on for more years. Saying anything good about a Hyuga while in the Uchiha District was like social suicide.

Sasuke led the blonde down the main street of the Compound, past the curious members of his clan who wondered who the blonde girl was. She was getting odd looks because she was walking with the clan heads second son. She must've been important if he was leading her. And in a way, she was.

Naruko was amazed at the size of Sasuke's house! It was huge! It was probably the size of a mini shiro with red tiled roofing and fancy wooden pillars. Then there was this huge garden off to the side of it that just took her breath away. She had a small garden and it was for herbs, not flowers. Perhaps she should plant herself some flowers?

When inside, she followed his lead and left her shoes by the door. She followed Sasuke into the large kitchen to see a woman who looked a lot like Sasuke, but with longer hair. Naruko was sure that the woman was Ducky's mom.

"Hello there! I'm Uchiha Mikoto, Sasuke's mother!" the woman smiled serenly.

Naruko was shocked that the woman didn't glare at her. Remembering her etiquette lessons from Iruka-sensei, she gave a small bow, "I'm Uzumaki Naruko. It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. Apparently, he didn't know that she could be respectful. But Naruko had a select few who deserved respect in her book, so she rarely ever bothered. Also, Kyubi insisted that it would get her in good with certain people outside the village since they wouldn't know who she was and she could charm them better.

His mother seemed shocked as well. She obviously knew who Naruko was, just by the way her eyes had lit up with realization when she laid eyes on the girl. Whatever she had previously thought about Naruko, was probably dashed in that second. Naruko smirked beneath her mask.

"No sama necessary, you can just call me Mikoto and I'll call you Naruko," the woman smiled once more.

Naruko winced a little. She didn't like the idea of calling the woman by her name all that much. "Okay Mikoto… san," she said.

Mikoto was impressed. The girl had just passed an important test. If Sasuke was serious in his feelings for her, she had to meet Uchiha standards. The standards were extremely high already for those outside of the clan.

She was intelligent if what Sasuke said about her perfect grades was anything to go by. She was strong if she had managed Rookie of the Year. She didn't stalk Sasuke like the pink one and her friends did. She didn't let others push her around and stood up for herself often without being a bully. Finally, even though she was used to doing whatever she wanted without having to watch her actions and speech, she still knew when respect was required. The fact that she was hesitant to call the Uchiha matriarch by her name so casually, showed it.

She nodded at the girl, taking in her appearance. Long bangs that hung in front of her left eye. A black mask that stopped right under her blue eyes. Long black sleeves that cut off at the wrists. A black battle dress, that was nothing like the pink one's, was the main piece. A white breastplate over that which was kept closed by a long red fabric wrapped around the girl's waist. The bottom of the dress, which reached mid thigh, and it's half sleeves had a crimson flame design. Same as the breastplate.

The girl had good style. Mikoto was impressed once more, since she surely dressed herself without a female presence in her life. All she wanted now, was to see how Naruko was going to eat with that mask in the way.

"Dinner will be done within the hour. You can go outside, but keep an ear out," Mikoto told the Genin as she turned back to the food she was preparing, leaving Sasuke to be the host for the first time in his life.

Sasuke unceremoniously dragged Naruko out of the room and down the long hall.

He slid shoji open, to show the garden that Naruko was so in love with. There was a stepping stone pathway that led away from the house and into the greenery. There where some sandals by the door that they slipped into so they could walk without getting their feet dirty.

"Come on Butch."

"Sure thing Ducky."

They walked for a while, until they came upon a Koi pond. Naruko nearly squealed, but reigned it in. Sure she loved fish, but there was no need to get hyper. Kyubi was insistent on remaining cool and aloof and she really didn't want a repeat of the cat incident of two years prior. She despised cats now. Evil little fuckers they were.

Sasuke sat down in front of the pond and Naruko did the same, placing a hand in the water and feeling the fish nip lightly at her fingers.

What shocked her, was how big the Koi was. Could normal Koi even get that big?

"They're a special breed called Dragon Koi. Many don't like them because there are of a mixed breed and are viewed as inferior to other Koi. We named this one Yodaina, because she's very elegant when she swims. So much so, that's it's majestic," Sasuke explained.

Naruko nodded in understanding.

"So, what should I expect at this dinner Ducky?" she asked, steeling herself for a long list of Uchiha approved actions. She was to be dining with the clan head and certain mannerisms would not be tolerated she was sure.

Kyubi scoffed. **Those stuffy Sharingan mortals need to lighten up a bit lest they resemble him too much.**

 _'Him' who?_

 **Never you mind,** the greatest of the Biju huffed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "They will no doubt test you. About what? I have no idea, because they've never asked me to invite someone over before. But I can warn you to make sure that you speak respectfully no matter what and think of what you say before you say it."

Naruko nodded, it couldn't be that bad. It wasn't like they were testing her to see if she was good girlfriend material. That would be crazy.

A resounding snort from the back of her mind said otherwise.

The Genin sat there for a while. Only when Mikoto's shout broke the silence, did they finally move. Naruko looked at Sasuke and grinned, "Last one to the house is a loser?"

"No Shunshin!" the Uchiha threw out quickly and she sighed. Sasuke was a faster runner than she was and she was also wearing heavier clothing than he was. Not fair!

 **Life isn't fair, gaki,** get over it.

 _Shut up!_

 **Sounds like someone wants another lesson on mating.**

 _NO! No, I'm good, really I am!_

 **Hmmm.**

Naruko drew herself back to the present where she was about to have a race with Ducky.

The two stood and counted to three before taking off toward the way they came. Naruko pushed herself hard in order to beat him, but Sasuke wasn't having it. He was at least two inches ahead of her and that was completely unacceptable.

Mikoto stood on the veranda waiting for the children. She could seeing them coming at a ridiculous speed! They were racing to the house and she was shocked to see a smile on her son's face. He rarely smiled. Smirked yes, but smiling was a rarity. He was too Uchiha, always huffing and stuffy and never having any fun. It was a relief to see that he could act like other children at some times. If only Itachi had the same privilege.

Sasuke touched one of the pillars to the veranda first and Naruko groaned. "That's it Ducky! I'm winning next time!"

Mikoto hid her laugh behind her hand. Sasuke actually let the girl call him that?

" _Sure_ you will, Butch," the boy replied, a cocky smirk in place.

Mikoto was even more shocked. What was with these children? They gave each other insulting nicknames, but neither looked offended. She could only guess that this was going on for quite a while if they were both okay with it. Aw!

"It's time for dinner. Fugaku and Itachi are inside," Mikoto told them as she turned for the door. "Wash your hands first."

Sasuke and Naruko followed at a much slower pace as they tried to catch their breath. Naruko's eyes glared at him and he smirked.

"So I'm a little faster than you. It's not a big deal," he shrugged, stopping by the sink to clean off.

She scoffed, taking her own turn, "I highly doubt that if I beat you, you would've been all okay about it."

Sasuke shook his head, "Actually, you're the only person I wouldn't mind losing to because I know that you train. If I lost to Sakura, I think I'd die."

Naruko snickered, "If you lost to that Banshee, I'd kick your ass back into gear."

Naruko followed Sasuke into the traditional washitsu room. The tatami mats were black as pitch and the walls were white as snow. The shoji had the Uchiha fan on them, to signify the family that resided in the house.

There was a very large chabudai in the center of the room, which was surrounded by five plush pillows. Two men occupied two of them, both were looking at the teens as they entered.

Mikoto was bustling about, setting the table. Naruko offered to help which was gladly accepted and she followed the woman from the room.

Sasuke was left with his brother and father who were smirking at him. He could tell that this dinner was going to be embarrassing for him. Naruko wouldn't understand what they would say, so she'd probably assume that they were weird or something. He took a deep breath because his calm was about to go out the window.

Naruko and his mother came back with the rest of the food and sat down. Naruko was in between Mikoto and Sasuke and she gave a small bow to the head of the clan. "It's a pleasure to meet you Uchiha-sama, I'm Uzumaki Naruko."

The man regarded her for a moment, before nodding. She exhaled the breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-san. I'm sure you've heard about Itachi as well?" Fugaku nodded to his eldest, who was simply staring at her.

"Yes. It's nice to meet you too," Naruko said looking at the Uchiha heir.

Itachi nodded back.

Mikoto smiled, "It's ready."

They each grabbed their chopsticks and chorused, "Itadakimasu!"

When everyone looked at their food, Naruko's hand flashed. Kyubi had put her through lesson after lesson for this. She knew what to do. She had done it before. Sleight of hand was easier for ninja that it was for civilians. But other ninja would be able to perceive it so she had to be faster than a ninja's eye could track.

Fugaku looked up to ask the blonde a question and gaped minutely when he noticed her bowl was empty. The yakisoba and vegetables that Mikoto had made were gone! He looked at Itachi to see him looking at the girl confusedly though to anyone who wasn't an Uchiha, they wouldn't tell the difference. Uchihas did not outwardly express disbelief after all.

Sasuke was the one to break the silence, "How did you do that? You did it at lunch when I looked away, but there are three other people now."

Naruko started to snicker.

 _Should I tell them?_

 **Go ahead, they wouldn't understand most of it anyway.**

"Okay, so I like to develop jutsu to help me prank people, and one day, I was thinking about this one I made and how I wished I could use it to make it easier to eat without taking the mask off. Then I got an idea and used it. Now, I can eat without removing the mask, because I can make the material around my mouth intangible in a way, so that the fabric is still there, but food can pass through it without a problem."

The Uchiha just stared at her in bewilderment. She had done such a thing?

"Impressive."

This compliment came from Itachi, and the other Uchiha were shocked to hear him say such a thing. Itachi didn't dole out compliments to anyone. Ever. He was a prodigy and therefore, saw many beneath his notice because barely anyone had managed to do what he hadn't. Apparently, Naruko's jutsu intrigued him.

"That jutsu would be a great asset to the Oinin and the Anbu," the Uchiha heir added with a nod.

Naruko's eye widened at the thought. It was true. Such a thing could be helpful. "I don't get along well with other people Itachi-san. How about I show you the jutsu, and you teach your subordinates," she suggested.

The Uchiha nodded with a small smile and continued to eat his food. The others at the table following his lead, still blown away from the uncharacteristic response of the Anbu captain.

Mikoto cleared her throat, "So, did your other teammate have to go home?"

Naruko and Sasuke paused and looked at each other. There was some nodding of the head and flashing of the eyes before they turned to the Uchiha matriarch. "No," they chorused.

Her eyes widened, "You didn't even invite him?"

"No," was the answer again.

Naruko nodded, "Besides, you can't blame him for not asking her. She's ridiculous!"

The other Uchiha paused in their eating. Sasuke was on a team with two Kunoichi?! That was unheard of! Usually there were more Shinobi than there were Kunoichi which was why cells were two thirds boys and one third girls.

"How is she 'ridiculous'? Do we know her?" Mikoto asked.

Naruko and Sasuke sighed, "Haruno Sakura."

Everything froze at the mention of that name.

Naruko nodded, "Yep! She's who we got stuck with, because dead last is always put with the top boy and girl to even out the teams."

Everyone at the table shivered at the thought of the pink haired girl. Bad memories were acquainted with her.

Fugaku sighed, "Well then, don't let that girl's annoying tendencies get in the way of your training. Who is your sensei?"

"The porn addict," Naruko stated bluntly.

Fugaku choked on his food and Itachi smirked, knowing full well who Naruko was talking about. Mikoto just smiled. Itachi looked Naruko in the eye and asked, "What are your goals in life Naruko-san?"

She laughed lightly, "I'm trying to develop a new version of the Hiraishin, that doesn't require seals. The Yondaime plastered seals on every building in the village, which is rather helpful for the Hokage's personal guard so that they can perform it when necessary. I can do it, but my mind tends to separate when I enter the dimensional void. If it's a small distance, I'll get a little dizzy because my split consciousness is thrust back together immediately. Such a thing isn't helpful in the battlefield. If it's across the village, I'll regurgitate. I have a lot of work to do, because the Nidaime made a lot of steps when it comes to using the jutsu."

The Uchiha clan head was impressed. The girl was taking on something that many had attempted and failed at. From the way she spoke, she had a good grasp on the jutsu and its origins. The dynamics and fundamental as well. She said she could do the jutsu, with some setbacks of course. But even with that, for someone her age to be able to do such a jutsu, let alone Shunshin, as he had all heard about from Sasuke, was incredible!

Naruko nodded to herself, "I also want to become the most powerful Shinobi to ever exist. It'll take a lot of work, but that's what makes a great Shinobi."

Fugaku and Mikoto looked at each other and nodded. She was acceptable. Sasuke most certainly didn't pick a useless person to fall in love with. Looking at their son, they could see the admiration in his eyes. Pride was there as well.

Mikoto sighed happily, thinking about beautiful, blue eyed grandchildren. She only had to wait a few years. Just a few. Hopefully.

* * *

Naruko looked at the clock and sighed. Time for the test. With Training Ground 7 in mind, she Shunshined, appearing next to the Memorial Stone. She looked around to see Sasuke in the distance, walking up to her spot.

"You two are late!" screamed the Banshee.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he stopped on Naruko's left side, so she was at his right hand. Like she should be. Lady Uchiha always sat at her husband's right hand. Not that he was thinking of her as his wife or anything! Just that she was best in the position of an Uchiha's most faithful and helpful ally.

Naruko looked at her watch, which said that it was ten on the dot. She looked at the pinkette, "Let me guess, you showed up at five and sat here ever since?"

"Of course! I actually follow orders unlike you! But how could you make my Sasuke break the rules too? Do you want him to get in trouble?" the Banshee demanded with a sneer.

Naruko felt a powerful urge to hit the girl. "Yet you sat here for five hours all alone. I only explained to Ducky my reason and he decided that he'd do the same. How? Because he's his own person. He doesn't belong to anyone but himself. So shut up," she snarled.

Sakura squawked unattractively, "You're just jealous that you can't be like me! I'm the perfect example of a good student, and you're just a pathetic orphan that no one wants to bother with. Not even your parents could stand you!"

Sasuke actually gaped openly at what Sakura said. He looked at Naruko, to see her looking down. He felt his annoyance for Sakura increase. That was probably the worst thing to ever bring up to Naruko, or any orphan for that matter. He fixed the stupid girl his harshest glare. She, was worthless in his eyes.

A puff of smoke appeared and Kakashi was revealed when the wind blew the smoke away. "Hello!"

None of the Genin gave him their attention. Sakura was smirking at Naruko who was looking at the ground. Her bangs were blocking her eyes. Sasuke was giving the pinkette the famous Uchiha Glare.

What had he just Shunshined in on?

Naruko looked up, her eye trained on Sakura. "You have nothing that I could be jealous over. You're a spoiled bitch, whose parents don't give two shits about you, because they let you become this. As for being a perfect student, I seem to recall that you are dead last. You are farthest from being even a good student. As for my parents, they died during the Kyuubi's attack. They didn't abandon me willingly you stupid bitch!"

Kakashi's eye bulged. What the hell had happened? The chill in Naruko's voice, showed him that whatever she felt for the other girl yesterday, had evolved into pure hatred. What she had just said, was filled with anger and distaste. And an underlying promise of death if the girl continued to piss her off. Naruko KI was coming off her in waves. And it was all directed at Sakura who was already shivering even though she didn't seem to know what was going on.

"Naruko, don't you think that was a little over doing it?" he asked hesitantly.

The blonde looked him in the eye and shook her head. "No, Kakashi. You saw how we reacted each other yesterday. You probably assumed that Sasuke and I were being unjustly rude to her, but you didn't spend five years in the Academy with the brat."

Naruko returned her attention to Sakura, "Sakura became the biggest ditzy bitch between our first and second year of the Academy. She joined the group of Naruko haters and spread horrible things about me. So in return, I made it so that everyone in the Academy thought Sakura had a disease that would keep her flat chested forever. Even though she didn't know I did it, she tried to start a fight with me. She laid a hand on me and attempted to remove my mask, which resulted in her dangling out the window by her ankle."

Naruko snorted at the memory.

"You don't know what she's like. There's a restraining order on her, where she isn't allowed within 300 meters of the Uchiha Compound, because she's a creep. She's a disgrace to all Kunoichi and shouldn't have bothered entering the Academy if all she does is stalk a boy. As far as I'm concerned, she's a waste of air," Naruko concluded with folded arms.

Sakura was gaping. She looked offended and fake tears came to her eyes. "Why are you so mean to me?" she whimpered pathetically.

Naruko scoffed, "Don't try to pull the innocent card. You're trying to come off as the victim because there is someone here who doesn't know what you're like and you want him on your side. There are a few sayings out there Banshee. 'Treat others the way you wish to be treated' and 'A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly'. You were never friendly to me and now I'm returning the favor. Some may say that I'm just lowering myself to your level, but I don't see it that way. You haven't earned my respect and until you actually do something productive with yourself, you will never be more than the dirt beneath my feet."

Kakashi watched as Sakura went from tears to the most unattractive scowl ever. "That's what you think. Everyone else thinks that I'm a great Kunoichi. The opinion of an orphan whose parents didn't care enough to stay with her doesn't matter to me."

That was going way too far! So obviously there were more layers to the pinkette than he originally thought. Kakashi cleared his throat, "Sakura, I knew Naruko's parents personally and they both loved her very much. They also did die during the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha. They were out saving the village and died admirably. To bring up something like that, which you will never understand, is low. And even though Naruko didn't handle the situation the right way, you still shouldn't have said that."

"I'm sorry sensei," the girl mumbled looking down. He didn't believe it for a second.

Kakashi looked over at Sasuke, who had a hand on Naruko's shoulder. He and the blonde seemed to be having a silent conversation, which resulted in Naruko's shoulders going lax.

"Now then, I'd like to begin your test," Kakashi told them and held up two bells. "You need to get these bells from me."

Well, this is going to be interesting, that's for sure.

Kakashi looked down at his temporary students, feeling a little worried but his pleasure at riling up another cell of wannabe ninjas overrode that. Sasuke and Naruko were standing next to each other which was a good distance away from Sakura. Both looked pissed but neither had said a thing when he Shunshined in on their waiting time… six hours late. Sakura looked like someone had chopped all of her hair off.

"You need to get these bells from me, that's all there is to it. You need a bell in order to pass," Kakashi informed them as he held up the bells. No one ever passed the bell test when he gave it, and by the looks on their faces, the record would stay that way.

Sakura gawked in horror, "But there are only two bells!"

Well obviously! For just that moment, Kakashi wondered why Sakura even wanted to be a ninja, but then he caught the pleading look she sent Sasuke's way and remembered that she was a fan-girl and was only doing this to get close to the Uchiha Heir Apparent.

He sighed dejectedly, because of course he would get stuck with the most annoying of the most annoying 'ninja' on his team.

Kakashi nodded though, trying not to sound condescending and most likely failing miserably. "Yes. Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of these three posts," he explained, gesturing to said posts. "They will also go without lunch while they watch the others eat."

Sakura's stomach growled obviously as the realization dawned on her. Kakashi looked at Naruko and Sasuke who both looked fine. In fact, Sakura looked worn out, like she had lost some precious sleep while the other two seemed well rested. He could easily deduce that Naruko and Sasuke didn't arrive on time, nor did they take his suggestion to heart. Finally, some brats that could think for themselves. But they were still brats.

"The one without a bell, goes back to the Academy for another year," he added with relish, enjoying the small scent of fear permeating the air around him.

He took notice of how Naruko and Sasuke glanced at each other - an entire conversation passed between them in mere seconds - probably having decided that they'd make sure Sakura couldn't get a bell. He couldn't blame them. He'd only known the girl for a day, and he didn't like her. He was also going to bring the matter the the Hokage, if it got out of hand, and possibly have her dropped from the program.

Still… she was their teammate and the fact that they were already working on excluding her wasn't a sign in their favor. No matter how annoying they where, teammates always came first.

"You can use any weapons you have," he told them.

"But we could hurt you!" Sakura bellowed.

Kakashi cast the girl a blank look. Seriously? If he was any lesser of a man, he'd cast shade on all Kunoichi but as he wasn't lesser, he knew that fan-girls like Sakura never actually became ninja. It was why there were so few Kunoichi in the force. It was a shame because Anko, Yugao, and Kurenai were terrifying!

Sasuke actually spoke up much to the silver's surprise. "He's an elite Jonin. He won't get hurt just by facing off against some rookie Genin."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke, "Okay Sasuke-kun!"

The boy rolled his eyes.

Kakashi shook his head, understanding his plight. He too had been a favored of the ladies when he started his Shinobi career. He could understand the resentment to a point.

Returning to the moment, he placed a timer on the middle post and set it. "This will go off at noon. You have until then to get a bell. We will start on the count of three."

Kakashi looked at the Genin, "One."

Sasuke and Naruko tensed.

"Two."

Sakura looked panicked.

"Three."

The Genin scattered. Kakashi took notice though, that Sasuke and Naruko went in the same direction. He had a feeling that they were going to come out of this with the bells, which meant that he needed to make sure that it was hard as hell to get the bells. He wasn't about to go easy on the best students of the graduating year. In fact, it was all the more reason to be a hard ass on them. Even if they weren't meant for team material, there were other fields of work for Shinobi that didn't require teamwork and for the safety of the village, he wouldn't hold them back from their potential.

Two of Kakashi's former-almost-students had received recommendations from him for particular cells and while they never knew how they gained the interest of such high ranking Shinobi, they did their best.

He scanned the area, only feeling Sakura's chakra signature. He looked closely at the trees and the bushes, easily spotting the mob of pink. She'd need more detailed instruction on how to hide in plain sight. That was mediocre at best. Then again, he best scores were in book smarts and nothing else.

Shinobi needed to be well rounded.

Shunshining behind her was easy. He whispered, "Sakura!"

The girl turned and he made a sign, using a low level Genjutsu. She'd shown some proficiency at it compared to everything else and he wanted to test that budding skill.

He Shunshined to a nearby tree to watch the proceedings.

Sakura looked around frantically. Then, her eyes lit up and she smiled happily. Her joy went down the drain as a look of pure horror crossed her face. She threw her arms up and screamed bloody murder before collapsing, foam coming from her mouth.

Kakashi shook his head in disappointment. I don't feel the least bit sorry. She needs to learn to see past these things.

He leapt off the tree branch and walked into the forest at a relaxed pace, keeping an eye out for the other two chakra signatures.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruko sat under a tree, trying to come up with a plan.

"I think it'll work! You just have to wait it out and wear this chakra suppressor." Naruko told the Uchiha, holding out a bracelet.

Sasuke frowned, "It could, but we need more. Can you do any jutsu?"

Naruko nodded, smirking under the mask. "I can make Kage Bunshin, a couple of wind jutsu. The Shunshin and the Hiraishin, which I will only pull out as a last resort as I haven't mastered it yet and there are some not pleasant lingering side effects. I'd need to get a seal on Sensei first before even contemplating it though."

Sasuke nodded, "I can do some fire jutsu, so your wind jutsu will help. I'm good with weapons as well, we Uchiha are taught from the cradle."

"So, can we try my idea?"

Sasuke gave the girl a long look and finally nodded.

Naruko jumped up and created a Kage Bunshin who went off after she handed it something, knowing what to do.

"Let's go."

Sasuke and Naruko followed the Kage Bunshin to an open area. Sasuke slipped on the suppressor and Naruko masked her chakra. Briefly, he had to wonder how the hell she got her hands on such a thing, but he had to bring himself back to the present because sensei could come at any moment.

They waited.

The Naruko Bunshin sat on the ground, legs folded and put a hand to her face. A minute later, tears were pouring from her eyes.

Kakashi walked into the area and their attention was drawn to him. He approached the Bunshin cautiously.

* * *

Kakashi looked at Naruko, who was sitting on the ground, looking anywhere but at him.

"Naruko, something wrong?" he asked, wondering what kind of scheme she had planned.

He expanded his senses, not feeling Sasuke anywhere. He knew that neither Genin was good enough to hide their signatures, which meant that Sasuke had left, for some reason.

Naruko looked absolutely depressed even though he couldn't see most of her face. He scented despair covering her.

"I'm fine, Kakashi."

He could tell something went wrong, because she had called him by his name with no honorific. Not that Naruko had a history of being known for respect but it was still a mild leap from ten minutes ago.

"Are you sure? You look like you've been crying," the Jonin pointed out.

Naruko scoffed, "I haven't cried in years. Uzumaki Naruko doesn't cry."

Kakashi remained ten feet away from the Genin, but still asked, "Really? What's that shining in your eye then?"

She looked away from him, "Nothing."

There was a silence. Naruko refused to look at him and he was wondering still if it was a trap. He was pretty sure it was.

"Hey sensei?" Naruko mumbled.

Kakashi, who had pulled out his Icha Icha, looked up, "Yes?"

"Did my parents really love me?"

He was shocked to hear that and briefly wondered if what Sakura had said actually affected the girl.

"Yes, why? If you're worried about what Sakura said, don't listen to her."

Naruko snorted, "The Banshee doesn't matter enough in my world, for me to care what her opinion is."

"Then, what the matter?" Kakashi asked as he turned a page.

Naruko sighed, "I had come up with a good idea for getting the bells and Sasuke didn't agree. He said that 'Uchiha's wouldn't stoop to that level', in regards to my plan. I told him that his reputation as an Uchiha wasn't at stake and it wasn't as if you were going to tell everyone in the world about it, but he denied and called it a stupid plan."

Kakashi could believe what she said. The Uchiha were very proud and held high standards. Yet, with the way Sasuke reacted around Naruko, he was sure that she was lying.

"I got mad, because Ducky has never talked to me like that before. He was the one that I would never expect it from. I insulted him and he retaliated." She looked down.

"And then I said something and he said something."

Kakashi cocked a brow.

Naruko huffed and folded her arms, "He said that I was acting like Sakura!"

Kakashi dropped his book from the wave of emotional turmoil coming off her. The way Naruko's chakra was fluctuating and the depression surrounding it, he was pretty sure that this wasn't an act. If what he could tell from Sakura and Naruko's relationship, they hated each other. So, telling Naruko that she's acting like the person she hates most, was probably a sin.

But then, he knew from what he had heard, that Naruko was a master at deception. So, he'd let this all play out, and see what happened. He picked his book back up and continued where he left off.

"Then," Naruko began, "he tells me that if I continue with how I'm acting, I'll only prove her right! Like that pink twig could ever be right about anything!"

Kakashi didn't know how to respond, even if it was a trick. Naruko was a skilled shinobi. Obviously if she was Rookie of the Year. But she was still a girl and they tended to get more offended than men did. Men had the tendency to be blind to the things that women could easily pick up on and he had no idea how to comfort an offended Kunoichi. The damage a scorned Kunoichi could bring, was momentous and he really didn't want to piss her off any more.

What to do?

* * *

The real Naruko watched from the treeline as her Bunshin coaxed their sensei into her lie. Though Naruko would admit to herself that if Sasuke ever talked to her like that, she would act exactly how her Bunshin was acting.

The thought of Sasuke even treating her like that, was despicable.

Sasuke looked at her and whispered, "You really know how to layer it on thick. When can we attack?"

Naruko watched as the Jonin got closer to her Bunshin, "When he lets her hug him."

Sasuke pointed to the bracelet, "Will this hinder my jutsu at all? Where did you get it anyway?"

He received a shake of the head, "At a place."

He shrugged it off, knowing that she wasn't about to part with information that no doubt contained illegal actions.

They watched as Kakashi finally let the Bunshin hug him. Her arms wound around his neck, far from the bells. Her hands sliding across the back of the Jonin's neck.

The Genin nodded to each other and Sasuke made the hand signs necessary as he rushed from the cover of the trees. Naruko following with her own jutsu.

Kakashi noticed their appearance and tried to move, only for the Bunshin to hold him in an unnaturally strong grip.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" "Fuuton: Reppushou!"

Kakashi and the Bunshin were caught in the enhanced flames. Naruko and Sasuke watched as the Bunshin poofed from existence and Kakashi was replaced with a log.

"Well, it was a good try," Naruko mumbled.

"It certainly was," a voice whispered in her ear.

She jerked as a spasm of fear lit up her stomach and Shunshined out of the way.

Appearing on the other side of the clearing, she eyed the Jonin with distaste.

"A pretty good plan Naruko, but I wasn't unprepared. I knew something was up and was ready to get out of there," Kakashi teased, putting his porn away.

Naruko looked over to Sasuke and nodded. The Uchiha began throwing shuriken and kunai like mad. Kakashi dodged, while still keeping an eye on her.

Sasuke paused in his attack and Kakashi realized that he was surrounded by ninja wire. "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!"

The flames erupted from his mouth, following the wires. Kakashi used the Kawarimi again and Naruko moved, using the Hiraishin to appear with a hand on her sensei's neck from behind, holding him in place. She felt the dizziness settle in, and shook herself out of it, trying to retain her upper hand.

Kakashi froze in place. How had she done it? How had she caught him? The only person that could do that, was his sensei, and the Yondaime was long dead.

"Give us the bells sensei," her voice rang out as a kunai appeared at his neck.

"How?" he choked out.

She snickered, "You'll know once you give me the bells, and I know you're the real Kakashi. You can attempt to move again, but I'll just follow you at a faster pace."

Kakashi sighed in defeat. He pulled the bells from his waist and handed them to the blonde. She grinned beneath the mask and Shunshined next to Sasuke, tossing him a bell.

Kakashi regained his bearings and stood. "So, how did you do that?" he asked after a moment of silence.

Naruko sighed, "I can do the Hiraishin." She held up a hand to stop his next question. "I am trying to create a better version of it without the use of seals, because I get very dizzy when I use it over short distances. I puke when it's a large distance. It's not perfected yet and will probably take a while. Can't do it in a real battle because it's too much of a liability."

Kakashi was gaping, though neither Genin could see it. "But the Hiraishin requires the use of seals and there are no seals on me."

Naruko smirked, "There was another part to the Kage Bunshin I used on you. You suspected that it was a trap from the beginning. You didn't know that I could do Kage Bunshin and expected a sneak attack from Sasuke. But when both of us appeared, you realized that something was off and got out of the way. But... you hugged the Bunshin and she placed the seal on the back of your neck."

Kakashi was shocked, "But anything a Kage Bunshin uses disappears when the Bunshin is destroyed."

Naruto nodded, "Exactly, so I gave her one of my seals, so that it would work."

Kakashi was stumped. He had gotten caught in such a detailed plan, by a Genin. Damn!

 **RRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNG!**

Sasuke smirked in a superior way and Naruko snickered. Kakashi sighed, "Let's head back to the Memorial Stone."

* * *

Kakashi finished tying Sakura to the post. The unconscious girl didn't move at all.

Sasuke and Naruko were talking in hushed tones, waiting for the girl to awaken.

He sighed, wondering how this was going to turn out. The two had managed to get the bells on their own. They had actually done as he had ordered though it wasn't actually the gist of the test. Still though…

When Sakura finally woke up, it was half past noon. She looked around, noticing how she was tied to the pole and screamed. "WHAT?!"

"You didn't get a bell Sakura," Kakashi told her.

Sasuke sent the Jonin a look and asked, "So what happens now? There is no history of a two man Genin squad ever. Your plan about teamwork," Kakashi jerked in surprise at that. "worked for us, but not her. We got the idea, but she didn't. It may seem rude but I'm not handing over a bell just to show that I can take care of my teammate, because I don't think she deserves it if she was taken out so easily."

Kakashi sighed when Sakura screamed once again, "WHAT?!"

"Sakura, your infatuation with Sasuke, is a very big disadvantage. You can give the enemy the means to destroy you because of how obvious you are. I defeated you with a simple Genjutsu and if I was your enemy, I would have killed you the moment you fell for it," Kakashi explained.

"This test was about teamwork. There were only two bells, which are used as a catalyst to start a fight between team members. With the possibility of only two people passing, dissension amongst the ranks is supposed to occur. Sasuke and Naruko worked together perfectly with no problem. They displayed Jutsu I never thought possible for fresh Genin, because they didn't give anything about their abilities away. You let your major weakness get the better of you and you were taken out," Kakashi finished.

Looking at the Genin, he thought about his next course of action. "I'll pass you all, mostly because of the promise Sasuke and Naruko showed. Sakura, you need to train a lot. You need to watch your attitude as well. You all don't need to be best friends, but you need to improve your teamwork together. That means all of you. If this doesn't work out, I'll be forced to do something that rarely ever happens in the shinobi world. Please make it so that I don't have to?" Kakashi told them all.

Sasuke and Naruko nodded in appreciation while Sakura glared at Naruko, as if it was all the blonde's fault.

"Thanks, Ero-sensei!" Naruko cheered.

Kakashi sweat-dropped at his nickname. "Meet at the missions office tomorrow at seven," he said with a sigh.

"That means after ten," Naruko supplied as she brought up a shuriken and whipped it toward Sakura, who squeaked in fear. The ropes tying her to the pole went slack and Naruko rolled her visible eye.

"See you tomorrow," she waved, turning and leaving.

Sasuke grunted and followed after her, the two of them disappearing from view moments later.

Kakashi did the same and Shunshined from the area, leaving Sakura alone.

* * *

Naruko and Sasuke walked along.

"Ero-sensei was talking about shinobi replacement. If Sakura proves to be absolutely useless at teamwork, he'll petition the Hokage for a replacement. We can only hope," Naruko told the Uchiha.

He nodded, "True."

Naruko stopped, "Well, see you tomorrow, Ducky."

"Sure thing, Butch," Sasuke mumbled as they parted ways.

Naruko sighed, hoping that being on a team with Sakura wasn't going to be as big of a drag as it seemed.

 _Dear Kami, have mercy on us!_

 **The Kami have nothing to do with it, gaki,** grunted Kyubi, finally deciding to wake up.

 **Also, you were a mite slower on your hand seals during that first Wind jutsu so you're going to the training ground to practice some more.**

 _Oh, come on!_

 **Now, gaki!**

 _Can I bring TenTen?_

 **Sure.**

The blonde threw her hands up in victory. If she had to suffer through re-trials and - she shuddered in horror - Kyubi's 'specialized' training, she'd take her friend down with her!

 **Such a good friend you are,** commented Kyubi with a snort.

 _Believe it!_

 **Not that again!**

 _I'm sorry!_ Naruko really didn't want to do more silencing training! Kyubi made her put hot sauce on her tongue and then keep her mouth closed. She couldn't say a word or make a sound or even drink anything! If she didn't do it, Kyubi would talk about mating for hours upon hours.

 **More training, you obviously didn't learn the last time this happened!**

 _NO!_

* * *

 **A/N: Another one bites the dust!**

 **How was it?** **Let me know!**

 **Check out my other fics.**

 **Ja ne! :D**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**


	7. C-Rank 1

**A/N: Hello people!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK!**

 **ORIGINAL CHAPTER WAS 3,275 WORDS LONG.**

 **NEW CHAPTER IS 4,630 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 _I'm not ashamed of my scars. I'm ashamed of the world for not understanding. -Unknown._

* * *

Naruko glared at the feline that dared to act as if it was superior to her in any sense! The damn cat was a demon! A real demon! Spawn of the devil and all that exaggerated drivel. It wouldn't be so threatening if it miraculously lost its claws.

The damn thing had landed some admittedly good scratches right across her cheek, tearing her mask slightly. Her team was obviously more than a little interested in seeing if she was going to remove the curious mask of hers. She gave an almost reluctant sigh and grabbed it. Surprisingly, even Kakashi seemed curious as to what she was doing. She smirked, feeling mischievous which wasn't too normal a thing for her.

Such nosy, little people these days.

Naruko pulled the mask down… to reveal another mask beneath it. Kakashi coughed into his fist, trying to stifle his laughter. Sasuke and Sakura both looked ready to lose it. Naruko loved it when she could rick roll people.

 **Don't get a big head, I'm the one who gave you the idea in the first place.**

The blonde refrained from groaning. _Do you have to kill my joy?_

 **Yes.**

 _Joy killer._

"How can you be wearing _another_ mask?" the pinkette demanded.

Naruko looked at her like she was stupid, "I'm wearing another mask underneath my primary mask. Layers and all that, you know?"

Kakashi cut off any further discussion by leading them into the mission assignment room. Naruko, having dumped the cat from hell off on Sasuke, who had somehow managed to get it to calm down, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the client.

Inside were a few Chunin, Iruka included, and the Hokage. In front of the long desk stood a heavyset woman bedecked in fancy clothing and jewels. She was Madamu Shijimi, wife of the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. And the woman looked positively ecstatic to see her cat once more.

"My wittle Tora!" the woman squealed, taking the cat from Sasuke.

The demon, that had been calm and purring loudly, immediately lost all composure, clawing at the woman's arms in an attempt to free itself. Naruko smirked at the beast, feeling a strange amount of pleasure at its misfortune.

Suffer!

Naruko sighed. That was the forty-fourth D rank mission in the last month. That damn cat, made up for a good percentage of them. If the lady just kept better control of her pets, she would't have to make bi-weekly visits to the village and the Genin teams wouldn't have to suffer.

The woman handed her pay over to Iruka who thanked her kindly. This time however, she didn't leave right away. The Hokage looked at team seven, his glasses already pushed up the bridge of his nose. "I have decided to assign you a C rank," he said.

Naruko felt a jolt of excitement run through her. "Thanks, Jiji!" she exclaimed, feeling like they were finally going to be going somewhere.

Kakashi inhaled slowly, feeling like the world should just swallow him up. "Are you absolutely positive about this Hokage-sama? Do you really think they are ready for this sort of… undertaking?"

The man nodded. "This is a mission that only team seven can pull off at this time. It requires someone who can play an instrument and only three of my ninja can do that. The other two are out on separate missions at the moment," he explained while pulling out a scroll that was closed with a very important looking, gold seal.

Kakashi seemed shocked at the information. "I can't play any instruments Hokage-sama," he mumbled, feeling a little inadequate.

The Hokage smiled, "I know! Naruko can though."

Naruko looked away when her teammates turned their questioning gazes to her. "It's not a big deal. TenTen said it would be good to learn because she could play the flute."

"The Daimyo is having a celebration tomorrow evening. He requested that we send a ninja team to guard it and that one of the ninja be the pianist. He offered a generous amount of money for this, because it's a very important gathering. He considers having a ninja that can play the music a money saver and is putting a lot of faith in Konoha because of how well we accomplish any mission he gives us," Sarutobi told the team.

Naruko nodded in understanding, "I think you should give us Tokubetsu Jonin or another Jonin just in case. Someone with good aim, that can fight from a distance without any trouble."

Sakura scoffed, "Hokage-sama wouldn't use that idea! It's stupid!"

The Hokage ignored the girl and smiled at Naruko, "I'm already ahead of you Naruko. Your team will be taking along Shiranui Genma."

Naruko nodded, satisfied. He was a fine guy, if one ignored his fascination with women. "He's good. He does that senbon thing and manages to not stab himself."

As if he was called, said senbon master walked in the room. Naruko raised her hand in time to catch the senbon he spit in her direction. "How do you that?! With your mouth no less?!" she demanded, looking at the weapon in wonder, trying to ignore the fact that his saliva was on it.

He smirked, and said suggestively, "It's nothing really. I'm just good with my mouth."

Naruko snorted and chucked the item back at the man, who had no trouble in plucking it from mid air and returning it to his mouth.

"I'm sure you are, you perv."

The Hokage laughed at the two. They did the same thing every time they saw each other. It was just one of those things that never got old.

"So Naruko, do you think you can handle this mission?" he asked the blonde. Of course whether she could handle it or not didn't really matter because she was the type to accept any mission despite her readiness.

Sakura decided to interrupt, like she did with everything else. Sometimes Naruko - in the deepest recesses of her heart - wished to just shove a wad of newspapers down the girl's throat to stop her voice from ever working again. But Naruko did no such thing because wouldn't the civvies just love to use that against her?

"Naruko would have to take her mask off and she refuses to do that!"

The collected shinobi in the room looked at the girl in wonder, all thinking the very same thing. How did she graduate? They turned to Iruka who blushed and looked away. He apparently didn't have any answers for them.

"It's called a Henge," Naruko pointed out, completely annoyed.

The pinkette snorted, "But if someone hits you, you'll go back to normal."

Some of the ninja had to agree, which was a shock considering who had said such a thing in the first place. How exactly could Naruko go about doing it without getting caught or messing up the mission? They all turned to the blonde, waiting for her to expound.

The blonde laughed. "I can do a different kind of Henge that allows me to retain my appearance no matter how many hits I take. It'll only break when I release it."

She didn't tell them, that it also let her transform into objects and such. She didn't like that though, because blocking her mouth could happen at any moment. So she mixed the jutsu with the Kage Bunshin. Let the Bunshin choke. She also didn't inform them that it was an ability she'd received from being a Jinchuuriki and that Kyuubi had been the one to teach her how to do it.

Those training days had been hell, she remembered.

The Hokage grinned. "Very good, Naruko. You will be leaving within the next hour, so please go home and prepare yourselves for a three day mission at the least, five at the most. You'll also be escorting Madamu Shijimi home. Keep her safe at all costs," he said, warning clear in his tone.

The team all nodded and gave a simultaneous salute. They bowed and left quickly.

Naruko sighed as she looked at a magazine full of beautiful women. Women who weren't scarred or deformed in any way. When she was younger, she had used to wish she could look like any of them, just to get away from her scars.

"What are you doing?" came the voice of Sasuke, from beside her.

"Trying to find a good face to use," she mumbled still flipping through the pages. "It has to be beautiful but not overdone, because I refuse to wear makeup. A natural beauty is good. Also, the body has to have the right definition and shape. With slightly calloused fingertips, from years of piano playing, but a soft body that doesn't look like it's been working out. I think I'll make the hips larger than normal to make it more realistic," Naruko explained.

She paused on a picture of a woman whose face was quite beautiful. High cheekbones, a small pointed nose and full lips. Naruko decided to use her for the facial part of the Henge. Flipping some more pages, she found the hairstyle she wanted, and finally, the body she needed. The woman had a thin waist, but huge hips that flared out with saddlebags and a large posterior.

Putting the magazine back in her bag, Naruko paused in her steps and made a hand sign for the Henge.

There was no smoke for this jutsu, like there usually was for the other ones. In fact, Sasuke watched as Naruko _grew_ , in many ways.

Her small height of four feet eight inches, increased more than a foot. Her specialized shinobi garb changed into a fancy, silken dress that filled out, the more Naruko changed. Her chest was of medium size, but the hips were a standout against the dress, stretching the fabric, making it rise. The blonde hair turned black, with no highlights, and was styled into a bun. The mask blended into Uchiha-like pale skin with icy blue eyes.

There was no jewelry or makeup. Nothing else to try and enhance the appearance. But Sasuke had to admit, It was fine the way it was. Though he would've preferred it if Naruko had showed him the real her and not the amazing Henge. But, such was life. One day he would actually get to see the real Naruko, of that he was certain.

They hurried to catch up with the procession. Naruko argued with Genma about her appearance, when he commented that she looked girly.

"Hello! Civilian women aren't really into working out! They watch their weight yes, but they don't exercise! Why bother with that when you can throw it all up?!" was the blonde's response.

"Besides, I know for a fact that you like feminine partners. Be it a girly girl or a girly guy," the Genin added with a huff.

Genma just snickered, not denying her in the least. Why bother when she was right?

Naruko looked around the room. It was decorated in a fanciful way, with lavish, purple silks and gorgeous antiques that were meant to catch the eye. Possibly to start a conversation about how they were acquired. It was the kind of decor meant to help people rub their wealth into the faces of others by saying 'look at how much money we have'. Naruko thought it was boring.

The Fire Daimyo was an interesting man. Naruko wondered how he and his wife found each other among the sea of weird. They were so odd on their own, but together, they seemed to be the perfect couple. It was kind of cute if she was to be honest. That they both had someone just as strange. And no, neither had a harem. Not like the other Daimyo and their wives did.

The ninja were given a room to stay in. All except Naruko, because she was a 'guest'. Sakura wasn't too pleased about it and of course, voiced her opinion. To a point, she was in the right, but in another, she was off the mark.

Naruko had to go stay in separate quarters, all alone. She had to no doubt connect with people she didn't know and put on airs around them in order to blend into the high society function.

Genma, who was not used to the Banshee, kept asking Kakashi what the hell was wrong with him for keeping her on the team. The Copy Ninja had no legitimate answer to that, so he pretended that he didn't hear.

"I'm not Gai, Kakashi," Genma said with a frown.

Kakashi looked up at him, "Did you say something?"

The Tokubetsu Jonin glared at the smart answer that came from the prodigy. He gave a bland, "Ha ha."

* * *

The next evening, all kinds of people showed up for the fancy get together. Elites, officials, and even some of the Konoha civilian council. Naruko rolled her eyes at the sight of them. Bastards.

 **If you only did as I said then you wouldn't have to deal with them,** Kyuubi whispered.

 _If anything happens to any of them you know that I will be the first person they lay the blame on, whether I did it or not!_

 **So since you'll get blamed either way, it would be advantageous to simply do something.**

 _That's not a good enough reason to do something to them!_

Kyuubi sighed. **You are far too young to understand. Give it a year or two.**

The party, if one could even call it that, started around five. Naruko began playing the piano in the far corner of the room as she watched the socialites mingle with one another. Fake smiles passing between them as they bragged about their newest possession or the trip they had just gone on.

The kunoichi had nothing particularly on her mind, so she just played what came to her. The music varying from soft and gentle, to more upbeat and cheerful. She was going to have to treat TenTen sometime, in order to thank her for pushing Naruko into those lessons.

A few hours into it, she was asked by some girl if she knew Mikado?

"For the traditional Parasol Dance?" the undercover kunoichi asked.

"Yes. We have a Koto and it would be nice to add the piano to the dance," the girl smiled happily. A creepy kind of happy. Not the bubbly, everything's alright with the world kind of happy.

Naruko sighed, wishing she had had time to practice for it. "I can. When the Koto begins, I'll add the proper key to accompany it when the time is right."

The girl thanked her and merrily skipped away.

Naruko shook her head. _They are so lucky I know what I'm doing._

 **True. You play very well for someone your age.**

 _Prodigy, hello!_

 **Whatever, Kit.**

The little old lady who had given her lessons - while she was Henge'd of course - had even said so. But that was just her advanced memory working for her. Ninja had to be trained in memorizing data and everything around them. It was like a two part challenge. One from the old woman and the other from Kyuubi.

The struggle had come from the finger stretching because she had smaller hands than usual. She hated finger stretches.

Pay attention, they're starting.

The seven dancers lined up in the front of the room, with their parasols. The kimono's were a beautiful shade of sky blue silk, and the parasols matched, embellished with white lace. The Koto began, playing the soft tune of Mikado in the perfect fourth. Naruko joined in with a perfect fifth, which always complimented each other. The two sounds blended in a melody that just seemed to make the dance even more beautiful.

Naruko was impressed with the dancers. They were in perfect sync. Their steps were light and quick. No mistakes whatsoever. Not even a stumble. How strange for a civilian group to be so good in balance and performance.

Strange indeed.

They had to be between the ages of twenty and thirty. All in perfect condition for their respective ages. It was impressive… and confusing.

Something wasn't right. Naruko continued to play as she focused her eyes on them. Thank Kami she could play without looking! That was talent!

One of the women was frowning, she noticed. Her frown seemed to be one of anger when her eyebrows tilted accordingly. Naruko noticed how the girl's movements were more on point than the others. She was doing perfectly, but had an edge that the others didn't have. A sharpness that made her stand out in the line.

Naruko watched as the woman's grey eyes roamed the room. Her gaze freezing on the Daimyo and intensifying. Her pupils dilated.

What's her problem?

Naruko looked around the room to the various shoji screens that had been planted as decoration/hideaways for her teammates. Looking at the black one closest to her, she made eye contact with her sensei, and nodded her head toward the dancers.

She received a nod in return.

So there was something off about them! Naruko watched as the dance came to an end. The dancers all bowed as the music drifted off.

The blonde began playing a dark tune that seemed announce that something bad was about to occur. That seemed to do it, as the woman Naruko had been watching for most of the dance, moved at a speed that a civilian just didn't possess.

The others jumped into action and that was when Naruko stopped playing, dropping her Henge and creating dozens of Kage Bunshin, who began escorting people out of the building. All the while, she took off after one of the enemy shinobi who was pestering an elderly couple.

Kakashi and Genma were attacking the 'leader' Naruko guessed, while Sasuke was defending Sakura from four enemy ninja all on his own. The useless girl was just cowering there. Doing nothing! This was why she should never have become a ninja! She was a liability to everyone on the team, even with an extra team member to help them along!

A high pitched scream grabbed her attention and she flashed over to the ninja, who was threatening Madamu Shijimi, cutting his head off in the process. Blood splattered her face, arm and disturbing, but not enough to make her stop. His red clad body fell to the ground in a heap. Naruko made another batch of Kage Bunshin to escort the Daimyo and his wife to safety.

"Protect them at all costs!" she ordered, already departing for another enemy.

She moved onto Sasuke, who had taken out one of his assailants with his fireball jutsu. Sakura was still doing nothing! It was moments like those that made her just want to shove a very pointy kunai up the girl's ass and then rotate it!

Naruko threw a collection of shuriken at the enemy, diverting the attention of one, which gave Sasuke enough time to use another fireball on them, catching the distracted ninja. All that remained were ashes.

She Shunshined behind the kunoichi, aiming a kick for her head. The girl dodged and backed away, leaving Sasuke to fight the remaining assailant by himself.

Naruko and the girl exchanged blows. Fists moving in and out of personal space but never landing hits. Feet attempting to snap an outstretched limb in half, only to fail mere inches before connecting!

Naruko cursed the woman's flexibility. It was getting really annoying having to outsmart her all to land a hit.

"What does a Genin like you think you can do to me? I'm a Jonin!" the woman boasted.

Naruko smirked from under her mask, "All the better for me when I chop your head off like I did to the one in red." Perhaps her exposure to Kyubi had made her so bloodthirsty? She sounded so callous there.

The girl's eyes widened as she looked over to the decapitated head and the corpse it came from. An enraged shriek met Naruko's ears. "Kisuke! You bitch!"

The woman's movements became jagged. Undisciplined. Her rage was blinding her from thinking straight. Before Naruko could comment, something pierced her back and she grunted. She glanced back to see two ninja behind her with their two swords protruding from her stomach.

Kyubi, I could use a little help here!

My chakra is already working on healing around the areas.

The woman laughed, "Now you'll pay, you bitch!"

Naruko looked around, wondering how she'd get out of it. The sword swung toward her neck, just as her eyes landed on Kakashi. That was it!

Naruko disappeared and reappeared behind Kakashi, her hand situated at the back of his neck, where the seal still remained. She briefly noticed that she felt no dizziness but ignored the questions that popped into her mind. She looked over to where she had been. The sword that had been aimed at her head had run through the necks of the two who had been behind Naruko. No one had expected her to just disappear. They had never even noticed the sword removing their heads.

Naruko moved away from Kakashi who had turned slightly to see what she was doing. She waved a hand, ignoring his worried look when he saw the swords rammed in her back. Kyuubi was helping to fix her so she'd be okay. Besides, the sharp pain in her back and stomach wasn't the worst pain she had ever felt. She could totally handle it.

She quietly approached the kunoichi who had just killed her own teammates and pushed one of the swords from her gut. Pulling it out from behind, she slid into a stance that TenTen had taught her, and charged.

The kunoichi noticed her and screamed in anger. "How did you move so fast?!"

Naruko didn't answer and swung her new weapon. The kunoichi blocked and aimed a kick for the blonde's face. She rolled under the limb and threw a shuriken.

The woman dodged, spinning her body at a ridiculous angle. Naruko took the chance to make some Kage Bunshin who charged the kunoichi. She watched as they fought, trying to think of something to use to beat the annoying bitch. Something that would stop her.

Naruko remembered the reaction to the news of her comrade's death. Maybe they were more than just teammates.

"Are you mad that I killed your friend? Pathetic!" Naruko taunted, looking the kind of reaction that would give her what she needed.

"Yes, bitch!"

"Aw! Too bad! He was so weak too! Quite a looker though," Naruko laughed. She actually hadn't seen his face at all.

The kunoichi destroyed the last Kage Bunshin and charged Naruko, who remained in place. "He was mine!" she screeched.

The blonde made a hand sign, hoping that her idea worked. "Oiroke no Jutsu to Otoko!"

The woman froze as an image of her dead love appeared before her, naked. She jerked as blood poured from her nose, her body was thrown back by an invisible force. Perverts always succumbed to the power of their own perversion.

Naruko took the chance and rushed forward, still looking like the man from before and stabbing her opponent through the heart.

"Minako!" a voice wailed.

Naruko returned to normal and sighed. The only enemy left was the one Kakashi and Genma were fighting. Naruko felt a small bit of pride, that the strongest enemy was a woman. A kunoichi.

She looked over at Sasuke to see him walking toward her. Sakura was unconscious on the ground.

"Are you okay, Butch?" Sasuke asked, looking worried. His eyes were firmly fixed on the remaining sword that had been plunged into Naruko's back.

Naruko nodded with a wince. She turned her back to him and asked, "Can you pull this out? My advanced healing will heal around it and then I'll have a permanent hole in my gut."

 _Would I be able to live with that?_ She asked the Biju sealed within her.

 **Possibly, I if were to manipulate my chakra a certain way. I wouldn't suggest it, however. Also, congratulations on finally doing the Nidaime's Jutsu without retching.**

 _Thanks!_

Sasuke nodded, though his mouth was screwed up in a sneer of obvious disgust. He grabbed the sword handle and pulled it from her back as fast as possible.

She gasped as the sides of the wound were nicked during the extraction. "Fuck, that hurt!"

She looked down and growled, "Bastards ruined my best breastplate! Dammit! They really pushed those fucking swords in hard!"

Naruko ignored Kyuubi who was snickering at what she said. There was no time to be perverted. That was for later. Later, when she could actually review everything that had gone on and laugh at things without getting odd looks.

She looked at Sasuke, "Let's go help the old biddies. They seem to need it."

Kakashi and Genma sighed as Sasuke and Naruko joined their fight.

The kunoichi was pushed back and surrounded. With Sasuke's superior weapon mastery and Naruko's clones, they had made the outcome easy. In the end, she was drained of chakra and tied up in special ninja wire.

Kakashi asked Sasuke and Naruko to detail their fights and they could tell he was angry about Sakura's lack of participation.

Genma actually voiced his opinion, "You need to replace her immediately! Has she ever done anything on your missions?"

"Only when we paint fences. Other than that, she finds some excuse to not do anything," Naruko grumbled, toeing the floor.

"Kakashi, if you don't bring this to Hokage-sama's attention, I will," Genma threatened.

Kakashi sighed, knowing that he was right. "Let's just finish the mission first."

Kakashi and Genma waited for the Genin to depart before they spoke to the Hokage on the urgent matter of one Haruno Sakura.

"So you defeated the A rank missing ninjas Miyabi and Minako of the Senshi Daihachi? You know the interference of them and their group makes this an A rank mission?" the Hokage asked with a sigh.

The Jonin nodded in sync.

"Well, the mission was completed and I have to say that I'm impressed with how your team did so well Kakashi," Sarutobi smiled at the Jonin. "Normally we have experienced great losses when mission parameters change so suddenly."

Genma nudged Kakashi's arm and Kakashi grunted. "Hokage-sama. I, Hatake Kakashi, Jonin of Konohagakure no Sato, would like to petition you for the removal of Haruno Sakura from the ninja program."

Genma cleared his throat, "And I, Shiranui Genma, Tokubetsu Jonin of Konohagakure no Sato, second the motion for the removal of Haruno Sakura."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. He was going to have so much work ahead of him.

Damn you, Minato!

* * *

 **A/N: Another one bites the dust!**

 **How was it? Let me know!**

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	8. Freedom!

**A/N: Hello people!**

 **I don't own Naruto.**

 **I have no beta.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON. I FOLLOW BACK.**

 **ORIGINAL CHAPTER WAS 2,233 WORDS LONG.**

 **NEW CHAPTER IS 3,363 WORDS LONG.**

* * *

 **From every wound there is a scar, and every scar, tells a story. A story that says, I survived.-Unknown.**

* * *

"Why does my daughter have to be removed?!" the grown man demanded, his mauve eyes sparkling with his obvious anger.

Hiruzen Sarutobi heaved a sigh. This was what he wasn't looking forward to.

He had brought it to the gathered Council's attention, that for the first time in ten years, someone was going to be removed from the ninja program. The shinobi part of the council were shocked, while the civilians didn't really care. That was, until the father of said child was informed. Then it all went downhill and fast.

Haruno Sakuro was informed that his daughter Sakura was being dropped, and the man lost it. If he ever had it to begin with. He cursed for several minutes and when he'd finally worn himself out enough, had addressed his leader with heavy disrespect and an annoying, pouted lip that was befitting of a grown adult to display.

"Haruno-san, I have Team Seven's Jonin sensei here, as well as a Tokubetsu Jonin who accompanied the team on their last mission. They are prepared to give reasons to the entire council, should they be required," the old Hokage explained, just wanting everything to be over and done with.

"Then bring them in!" the civilian man demanded, folding his arms in annoyance.

Sarutobi nodded toward the two Anbu guarding the doors to let the two shinobi in.

Hatake Kakashi and Shiranui Genma walked in and bowed to the Hokage, before facing the councils.

Kakashi stepped forward. "I am Jonin Hatake Kakashi, and I am Haruno Sakura's sensei. I have to report that she has made no improvements within the month since graduating. She spends her time following Uchiha Sasuke around and trying to get him to date her, instead of training."

The shinobi part of the council all cringed and rolled their eyes. This was what kunoichi were becoming. Kami help them all if their lives and the lives of their families were in the hands of such people.

"She has no skills in anything beyond memorization. Even her chakra reserves are unnaturally low for a Genin. She lets her weaknesses be known and is easily defeated because she isn't subtle. She has no respect for her superiors or her fellow Genin. The girl has no hope in becoming a respectable shinobi," Kakashi finished and took a step back.

Genma stepped up and cleared his throat. "I am Shiranui Genma, a Tokubetsu Jonin who was assigned as help to Team Seven's last mission. We were hired to watch the Hi no Kuni's Daimyo's special gathering because of all the important, political figures attending. There was an attack by a band of rogue shinobi. Two of them being A rank missing ninja. As expected, Uchiha Sasuke did exceptional in his fighting."

Fugaku straightened a little, in pride for his youngest.

"Uzumaki Naruko did exceptional as well. Unfortunately, Haruno Sakura fainted from fear, forcing the young Uchiha to protect her from four shinobi at once. One of them being an A rank. Uzumaki saved the Daimyo and his wife from a ninja and then rushed to the Uchiha's aid just as he had successfully killed one of his attackers. With the distraction, Uchiha was able to kill another ninja while Uzumaki took on the A rank on her own. Two more shinobi appeared and injured her while she was fighting, but she was smart enough to trick the enemy into killing them. She then delivered the final blow. After that, she and Uchiha joined Kakashi and I in defeating the last ninja," Genma explained to everyone.

The reactions were interesting. The shinobi were impressed that a Genin could take out an A ranked shinobi on her own. The civilians weren't all that thrilled about hearing Naruko's success. It was a battle between respect and hatred in the councils.

Genma decided to finish with his observations. "I was only with the team for three days, but that was enough to notice that Haruno is a spoiled brat that has never lifted a finger a day in her life. She complains about everything and puts Uzumaki down all the time. I found out from both Uzumaki and Uchiha, that when they have missions, Haruno never does anything and just makes up excuses to why she can't do them. She iss weak, and put Uchiha in danger because of it. If she had been at least partially like her teammates, Uchiha wouldn't have had to take on four enemy shinobi on his own. Her intelligence level is not outstanding when she is overshadowed by her teammates, and she, in my opinion, isn't worthy of being a ninja."

There was silence. The shinobi council were looking at Sakuro in disgust. They were appalled with the information. What was the man thinking letting his daughter become like that? Did he care about her at all? It was parents like him that made the others strive not to be like that.

Hiruzen sighed, "I have something to add."

All attention was on him in that instant. What else could there be?

"Haruno Sakura has stalker like tendencies regarding Uchiha Sasuke. Two years ago, she was escorted to the police station by Uchiha Itachi, for sneaking into the Uchiha Compound and trying to spy on Sasuke. She got the wrong room though and instead, was discovered within Itachi's room. A restraining order was drawn up when Sakuro refused to punish his daughter for her actions. She cannot go anywhere near the Uchiha Compound, for the rest of her life," he told them all.

Genma's mouth had dropped, his senbon hitting the floor.

The others in the room were horrified. What kind of parent was Haruno Sakuro? Even the civilians were uncomfortable with the information. That a girl was allowed to sneak into people's homes and not receive any kind of punishment for it, made them all wary of leaving their lives in the hands of said girl.

"I'm sorry about this, Sakuro, but I'm putting this to a vote. All those in favor of the removal of Haruno Sakura from the ninja program," Hiruzen announced.

All of the shinobi hands went up and half of the civilians raised their hands.

"All opposed?"

Sakuro's hand shot up, along with a few others.

Sarutobi looked at his advisors and Danzo. "You didn't place a vote. Care to share your thoughts?"

Homura and Koharu looked to Danzo to leadership and the old War Hawk cleared his throat. "I would like to see the members of Team Seven, in order to properly give my vote." The other two nodded in agreement. All three remained stone faced.

Sarutobi sighed and ordered an Anbu to fetch the Genin.

A few minutes later, Naruko and Sasuke walked in the room, side by side. They bowed to the Hokage and continued to hold a very silent conversation with each other, ignoring everyone in the room. Their lines of vision were connected and they seemed to be sharing what looked to be a discussion of great importance.

Sakura showed up ten minutes later, much to everyone's irritation.

The gathered council members all took notice of how she didn't bow to the Hokage. They were further mortified when she even had the gall to ask, "How long is this going to take?"

"As long as needed, gaki!" Inuzuka Tsume snarled, nearly rising out of her chair in her desire to teach the whelp a lesson she would never forget!

The pinkette just rolled her eyes, ignoring the clan leader. Tsume growled at the disrespect. Tsume was of the mind that disrespect was paid for in heavy punishment. She had her pups sit for an hour with a non-toxic soap in their mouths. She'd give anything to do it to this little runt.

Danzo spoke, reclaiming everyone's attention for himself. "We have called you here, to clarify something. Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke snapped to attention and looked at the War Hawk of legend.

"Give us your honest opinion of your team," Danzo ordered.

Sasuke nodded and sighed, "Kakashi-sensei is good, though he has a horrible habit of being late. His hobby is a bit unnerving, but not something that really disturbs me. I trust him with my life. Naruko was Rookie of the Year. She has proven to be an exceptional ninja in my eyes, and even the eyes of my family. I don't have to worry when she'd around, because I know that she pulls her own weight. Even more, if it's necessary."

He stopped and took a deep breath. "Sakura is useless." he continued, pretending not to hear the offended squeak from said girl. "She does nothing to help. She drags her feet and whines all the time. I'm disgusted that she calls herself a kunoichi when she's an embarrassment to the real kunoichi out there. My mother would be insulted to be placed in the same category as Sakura," he finished, sending a sharp glare in the girl's direction.

Danzo nodded his head and looked at Naruko. "Uzumaki, please tell us what you think about your team."

She nodded. "I think Kaka-sensei is awesome! He's smart and definitely lives up to his title and stats in the Bingo Book. His views on teamwork and camaraderie are inspiring to me. I'd like to be like him someday. Without the porn addiction."

The shinobi in the room laughed. All of them knowing the lazy ninja well. Kakashi just waved a hand, pulling out the very object that had everyone laughing at him.

Naruko inhaled. "Sasuke is, as expected from an Uchiha, the perfect teammate. He trains hard every day and has proven that the Uchiha are the best. But he doesn't let his family name puff his head up. He isn't a fool, and has all of my trust."

Naruko's mouth went from the smile it had taken on when she spoke of the Uchiha, to a frown. Though the mask covered her face, everyone could tell how unhappy she was. The hard glare and lack of pleased twinkle just proved it.

"Sakura should've never been entered in the academy. She has nothing going for her in this lifestyle. She's a whiner, a stalker, and a spoiled brat. She doesn't do anything ever, and she thinks that she's the best, even though she is the dead last. I personally don't like her for many more reasons, but they don't pertain to teamwork. I can tell you though, that she puts everyone in danger by having such a weak constitution. She also lets too much about herself be known. Kaka-sensei took care of her easily on our Genin test, with just a Genjutsu that was centered on a bloodied Sasuke, whereupon the girl fainted from fear. She doesn't belong in the ninja world, for she's a liability to the entire village."

Danzo looked to Sakura who huffed, "Kakashi is lazy. Sasuke-kun is perfect in everything!" She looked at her crush with hearts in her eyes. She turned to Naruko, "Naruko's a bitch, who is jealous of how great a kunoichi I am. She tries to come off all cool with her mask as a way to get my Sasuke-kun's attention, when really, she's just a waste of space."

The occupants in the room looked at the blonde who was rolling her only visible eye. She was looking at the wall, as if it wa mores interesting than what was going on at present.

"She's just a pathetic orphan whose parents didn't even love her."

"Sakura!" Kakashi snapped. "What did I tell to you about that?!"

The girl just shrugged.

Many noticed how Naruko had looked at Sasuke for a good moment. They were shocked to see him place a hand on her shoulder. They had thought it was in comfort, but when Naruko started walking toward Sakura, Sasuke's hand pushed down as his other hand wrapped around her waist. Keeping her still.

Even the civilians knew that Naruko wasn't abandoned by her parents. The Hokage had explained that her parents were killed when fighting the demon that was sealed within the girl. Sure, they hated her, but they could tell that the Haruno was petty and they weren't impressed. To leave their lives in the hands of such a pathetic shinobi would be disastrous! They trusted the demon container more, even if it wasn't by much.

They couldn't really go against the girl anyway. If the blonde was backed by the Uchiha clan, she was then out of their reach. They could still hate her, but that was all they could do.

As for the pink haired brat, many of the people in the room were appalled by her behavior.

Danzo wasn't impressed. He'd been hoping that the girl was actually something that he could shape into a weapon, but she was worthless. He could tell that almost everyone in the room was for the removal of the girl. Only her father seemed to want her to continue being a kunoichi.

"Hatake, what say you?" he asked the young prodigy, knowing that while the man would be hurt to have to do such a thing, he would be honest first and foremost.

"I think Sasuke and Naruko have perfect teamwork. They fight well together and are apt pupils. Sakura... I tried to get them to work together, but she isn't working. I was hoping that it would all work out, but it didn't. She's disrespectful and arrogant and I'm disappointed that she learned nothing in the past month when I was able to successfully teach the other two the Tree Climbing exercise and how to walk on water. I have to agree with Hokage-sama and say that she needs to be removed from the program," the Copy Ninja said, his disappointment nearly palpable.

Danzo looked to Koharu and Homura, who both shook their heads frantically. "Hokage-sama, we have decided that the girl should be dropped."

Sasuke and Naruko both let out sighs of relief. They gave each other a look that spoke volumes of their feelings on the matter. The Kami were on their side today.

Sasuke released the girl from his arms, slightly sad at the loss of warmth, though not understanding why. Just another of those things in life for him to constantly question and received no answers to.

"Then by the power vested in me, as the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, I hereby remove Haruno Sakura from the ninja program and therefore strip her of her Genin status. This meeting is adjourned," Sarutobi announced, much to everyone's delight.

Naruko and Sasuke were the first ones out the door.

"She's gone!" Naruko cheered once they were outside.

Sasuke nodded, just as glad, but better at hiding his emotions. He was an Uchiha after all. It was unbecoming for him to be seen doing such rowdy things.

"Now let's just hope that her replacement isn't inept," she added with a concerned look.

Sasuke shrugged. "Anyone is better than Sakura."

Naruko nodded. "You're right."

 _Free from the pink! Yes!_

 **Congratulations Kit!**

* * *

TenTen winced when Naruko managed to land a solid blow to her right arm. They were having a mock battle like they always did and she had just learned that Team Seven was getting a replacement and that none of the teammates were sad about it.

"Was she really that bad?" she asked, throwing a kunai that narrowly missed Naruko's head by mere centimeters. She internally cursed her friend's speed. It wasn't fair that she could move so fast at her age!

"Oh, yeah! Remember that girl Ayumi from your year?"

TenTen flipped away from Naruko's foot that had almost connected with her sternum. A mental vision of Okagawa Ayumi popped into her head and she winced again, but for a different reason this time.

"I remember her, alright. She was horrible. Do you mean to say that Haruno was that bad?"

"Worse."

Was it possible to be that bad?

TenTen grunted as an open palm to the chest sent her careening backward. She flipped over mid air and managed to land on her feet. Her thinking was making her lose!

"Stop talking to me while we're fighting!"

"It's makes for good distraction techniques!" Naruko said with a shrug, "Besides, it splits your attention multiple ways so you will learn to do more at once! It's a special kind of training!"

Naruko charged again, lifting her own kunai.

TenTen huffed. "Fine! Let's do it your way!" Lifting her own weapon, the brunette dashed forward to meet her friend.

"You remember my sensei?" the bun haired kunoichi asked, plan already in motion.

"Unfortunately."

"Think of him naked and covered in cheese."

Naruko's form slipped for one second as he lone eye crinkled, her brow furrowing in her disgust. TenTen took advantage and twisted herself around, using her hand to support her weight as she used her right leg to sweep Naruko's feet out from under her.

Naruko went down and TenTen rolled over her, holding the kunai to her covered throat.

The feeling of cool metal against her own throat had her realizing that while she'd gotten the drop on the blonde, she still hadn't managed to win. But a tie was a good place to start.

"Can I just ask why you would say such a thing?"

TenTen flushed and looked away. "It… uh, happened. Mission. I don't wanna talk about it!"

Naruko's hum was deceptive.

TenTen was standing and putting her weapons back in her scroll, when Naruko finally decided to ask, "So is he large?"

TenTen fainted.

* * *

Itachi was smiling at him and Sasuke didn't really know what to think. When Itachi was smiling, it usually meant that he had learned some new piece of information that he was going to use against Sasuke and the younger Uchiha was not prepared for it.

"Father informed me of something very interesting today, otouto. Care to hear about it?"

"You'll tell me anyway," said the boy, resigned to whatever his brother had planned.

Itachi's smile was devious and his coal eyes were alight with some emotion that Sasuke couldn't place. "Tell me, did Naruko feel warm while you held her?"

Sasuke's face flamed instantly and he turned around, fleeing for his bedroom immediately. How dare he bring that up! And how dare he laugh at Sasuke for it!

"Darling, it's okay!" he heard his mother shout. "She'll come around to you eventually, I'm sure of it!"

"Stop making fun of me!" he hissed down the hall, before sliding the door to his room shut with more force than necessary.

So he might have just a little crush on Naruko, but it wasn't like he was the only person to. Shikamaru had definitely liked her before Sasuke did and Shino had liked her long before either of them had.

Yeah. There was nothing wrong with it!

He buried his head in his pillow and screamed away his frustrations.

Being a pre-teen was so hard!

* * *

 **A/N: Another one bites the dust!**

 **How was it? Let me know!**

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 **It's a Kakashi/fem-Harry and Sasunaru.**

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End file.
